Research on the Application of Solar Energy to the Food Drying Industry.

摘要

The tasks performed include:analyzing the produce drying requirements from a technical as well as an economic point of view;synthesizing systems which use solar energy as the source of heat which lead to minimum total system costs (solar plus conventional energy) without sacrifice of product quality;and preparing preliminary designs of solar dehydration systems for construction and tests. Various solar dehydration systems were reviewed and analyzed. Results indicate that a system using solar collectors for preheating the air entering the dehydrator is the most economical and practical way to use solar energy,and that limited use of solar energy for food dehydration may be economically feasible now. Included in the report are: (1) a summary of economical and technical aspects of solar food dehydration; (2) a description of food dehydration technology and an historical account of prior efforts at solar food dehydration; (3) computer simulations of various solar dehydration systems; (4) a description of the basis for selection of an experimental system to be built at California Polytechnic State University; (5) Solar system cost estimates;and (6) technical aspects of solar collector design for food dehydration.