Automatic solar drying machine for food products

Abstract

The invention relates to automatic food drying systems primarily designed to dry food products using solar energy. In fact, these systems mainly utilize alternating plate solar collectors as a heat exchanger. The said system is composed of a control part (CP) and an operational part (OP), where the operational part consists of: main glass, upper cover, upper absorbent plate, lower absorbent plate, secondary glass, chimney, drying chamber, hot air duct, fixing support and drying chamber door. The innovative feature of this system lies in the design of two alternating absorbent plates, with double glazing on the lower plate. This improves the efficiency of the solar air collector and, consequently, the drying process. The alternating absorbent plates enhance the mixing of fresh air with air heated by solar radiation, thus optimizing the collector's thermal efficiency. Double glazing creates an increased greenhouse effect, reducing heat loss by convection, which improves the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the solar collector.