Experimental and Comparison Studies on Drying Characteristics of Sliced Cut Tomatoes and Cube Cut Tomatoes
S. Arun1, S. Ayyappan2, V.V. Sreenarayanan3
1S. Arun, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.
2S. Ayyappan, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.
3Dr. V.V. Sree Narayanan, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.
Manuscript received on 20 September 2014 | Revised Manuscript received on 30 September 2014 | Manuscript published on 30 September 2014 | PP: 25-31 | Volume-3 Issue-4, September 2014 | Retrieval Number: D1205093414/2014©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: A natural convection solar greenhouse tunnel dryer was designed and developed for studying and comparing the drying characteristics of sliced cut tomatoes and cube cut tomatoes. Three experimental runs with 30 kgs of tomatoes were carried out in the dryer during the month of June 2014. The performance of the dryer was studied (drying time and product quality) in comparison with open sun drying method. The absolute geometry of cut for the products to be dried was also revealed. It was found that the solar tunnel greenhouse dryer took only 29 hours for reducing the moisture content of sliced cut tomatoes from 90% (w.b.) to 9% (w.b.) and 56 hours for reducing the moisture content of cube cut tomatoes from 90% (w.b.) to 9% (w.b.) whereas the open sun drying took 74 hours and 123 hours for the same. The sliced cut tomatoes were dried at an earlier time than the cube cut tomatoes in both solar tunnel dryer and open sun drying due to the larger area of exposure to surrounding hot air which allowed higher rate of moisture removal from the tomatoes. Thus, the optimum geometry of cut for ensuring quicker drying of tomatoes is the sliced cut of the tomatoes. Also, the quality of dried tomatoes produced from solar tunnel dryer is much superior compared to that of open sun drying.
Keyword: Cube cut tomatoes, Moisture content, Open sun drying, Quality, Sliced cut tomatoes, Solar tunnel dryer.
Scope of the Article: IoT Applied for Digital Contents