The performance characteristics of a typical pilot-scale tray drier.

Abstract

A pilot-scale tray dryer was assessed to relate the drying temperature (T°C) and velocity (V = ms1) to the heater power (H) and fan speed (F) settings. K-thermocouples and an anemometer were used to measure these drying parameters for 121 setting combinations. Higher fan speed settings reduced the temperature in the drying chamber and multiple regression analyses gave the following relationships: In T = 3.97 + 0.054 H -0.061 F; f - 0.9350; V - 0.4 exp (0.129 F); f - 0.9897. The relevance of the performance evaluation to downstream processing of PNG agricultural foods was highlighted.