Kerala is the region with high humidity and comparatively low solar radiation, there is much scope of uneven and uncontrolled drying of copra. Hence, an attempt was made to develop a sophisticated and advanced forced convection solar dryer. Evacuated tube collector (ETC) was used to generate hot air and used to dry coconuts. It consists of three units: evacuated tube collector, blower and drying chamber. Coconuts (Cocos nucifera) were dried at full load condition in order to evaluate the performance of the developed solar dryer. The drying chamber temperature observed was of 70°C for safe drying of coconuts. | Development of a solar copra dryer incorporated with evacuated tubes
