Browsing by Author "Narayana Swamy, K.G."

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    Design and development of a natural convection type low cost dryer for medium holdings
    (2007-02-08) Annamalai, S.J.K.; Narayana Swamy, K.G.; Patil, R.T.
    A simple and cheaper dryer working on indirect heating and natural convection principle using dry agricultural waste as fuel has been designed and developed to suit medium sized plantation crop holdings and processing units. The dryer consists of a drying chamber, burning cum heat exchanging unit and chimney. The dryer can hold 1000-1200 coconuts or 375 kg of ripe arecanuts per batch and the drying time required is about 33-37 hrs for copra and about 87 hrs for arecanut. As a preliminary study, the dryer was tested for drying 75 kg green cardamom in trays but slight discolouration of the product after drying was observed. The thermal efficiency of the dryer was 18.7-23.4%. The dryer costs about Rs.4000/- only and it requires an area of 7 m1 for housing. Economic analysts has shown that this dryer can be profitably used during monsoon months.