Published Paper Details:

Uncertainty in the price of the fossil fuels and also rapid depletion of them gives rise to the alternate energy sources. From many decades people uses the solar energy as a main source of energy especially in the drying of food items. Solar dryer is the device that can be used for drying of food items which is sustainable by small communities, gives hygenic and quality products. Mainly an indirect solar dryer and mixed mode solar dryer performance and design were studied from the literatures. The tunnel type dryer has the advantages of the direct sun light by ultra-violate stabilized cover and absorber plate is provided at the base. The no load performance index is the new terminology for checking the performance of the different dryer in the forced and natural convection mode. The drying of fish near to the coastal line of India is the major business for fisherman hence the drying done by open sun drying method in very unhygienic condition. By implementing solar dryer over that regions quality of dried fish will increase and the drying time will be decrease. The no load performance index (NLPI) of the mixed mode solar dryer was 0.633 which was highest among the rest of the dryer under the natural convection mode. The new mixed mode type solar dryer can be developed in which the absorber plate is attached with the tunnel type dryer.