Solar drying in the Caribbean
- West Indies Univ., Mona (Jamaica)
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has estimated that a quarter of crops are lost through inadequate handling after harvesting. The use of solar dryers can reduce these losses and improve the quality of food. Oliver Headley of the University of the West Indies overviews a range of dryers developed in the Caribbean region. Solar dryers have been used in various parts of the Caribbean for the past eighteen years. The main types are: closed cycle dryers with separate flat plate collector; open cycle dryers with roof vanes against direct sunlight; open cycle dryers with rockbed heat storage units; open cycle dryers with chimneys for air circulation; wire basket dryers with flow through ventilation; barn roof collectors feeding packed bed dryers. During the dry season (January to April), mean daily insolation in a typical Caribbean island is about 25 MJ/m{sup 2}. With such an abundant resource, solar crop drying emerged as a preferred method for the preservation of perishable commodities. In territories without fossil fuel reserves solar energy is an obvious alternative since it does not involve expenditure of scarce foreign exchange. Research and development work in solar crop drying was conducted both at experimental sites in the University and in rural districts throughout the region. Several types of dryer were designed and tested.
- OSTI ID:
- 5068457
- Journal Information:
- Sunworld; (United States), Vol. 16:1; ISSN 0149-1938
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CROPS
SOLAR DRYING
WEST INDIES
SOLAR DRYERS
BANANAS
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS
GRAMINEAE
ROOFS
SOLAR CHIMNEYS
SPICES
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT
VENTILATION
YAMS
CHIMNEYS
DRYERS
DRYING
EQUIPMENT
FOOD
FRUITS
ISLANDS
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
MAGNOLIOPSIDA
PLANTS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
VEGETABLES
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