Design and Fabrication of Solar Dryer for Sustainable Livelihoods of Fisher Women Behera Debashree Debadatta1, Nayak Biswajit2, Das Shiv Sankar3 1Sr. Lecturer, Mechanical Department, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, India 2Associate Professor, Mechanical Department, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, India 3Lecturer, MBA Department, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, India Online published on 8 December, 2017. Abstract Fisherwomen traditionally dry fish in open, often in unhygienic conditions. It results in poor price realization from the market. Application of solar drying technology has the potential for higher value addition of fish products. Accordingly, a solar dryer has been designed and fabricated considering various system parameters such as inlet temperature of air, humidity, moisture carried by air per minute and outlet temperature of air. This dryer is being used by the fisherwomen in coastal area of south Odisha which is involved in technology based and market linked sustainable livelihood security of fisherwomen. The dryer has been designed with a capacity of 20 kg/day fish and is manufactured with aluminium sheet and SS304 grade stainless steel perforated trays. The present initiative relates to an energy efficient solar dryer for drying foods, vegetables, seafood, edibles or organic foods. More specifically, the present set up eliminates moisture and provides sufficient drying in a reliable, hygienic and economic way with all three modes of heat transfer viz., conduction, convection and radiation. Further, the present system eliminates the use of auxiliary heaters by taking advantage of direct sunlight falling over the dryer that is made of a good heat conducting material to heat air within the drying room. The solar drying device comprised of an enclosed means, a drying room, plurality of perforated holders for holding of drying material and a plurality for air blowing means powered by solar energy in order to provide effective removal of moisture. The perforation over the food holders is circular and the holders are spaced at an equal distance from each other within the drying room to facilitate effective air circulation. The air blowing through fan is used to increase the rate of moisture removal and circulation of heated air in the drying room. The entire drying operation takes place by means of direct solar energy falling over the dryer. Top Keywords Solar energy, Moisture carrying capacity, Relative humidity, PV panel, Hygienic. Top |