Solar Energy Dryer Kinetics Using Flat-Plate Finned Collector and Forced Convection for Potato Drying

Research on potato drying using the indirect solar dryer with flat-plate finned collector and forced convection has been done. The research was conducted at the outdoor field of Laboratory of Institute for Research and Standardization of Industry on June 14(th)-23(rd), 2016 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pin. This research aims to obtain the drying kinetics model of potato (Solanumtuberosum L.) using an indirect solar dryer's (ISD) with flat plate-finned collector and forced convection. The result will be compared to the open sun drying (OSD) method. Weather conditions during the drying process took place as follows; surrounding air temperature was in the range 27 to 34.7 degrees C, relative humidity (RH) 29.5 to 61.0% and the intensity of solar radiation 105.6 to 863.1 Watt/m(2). The dried potato thicknesses were 1.0 cm, 1.5 cm and 2.0 cm, with the average initial water content of 76.46%. The average temperature in the collector chamber ranged from 42.2 to 57.4 C and the drying chamber was at 46.2 degrees C. The best drying result was obtained from a sample size of 1 cm thickness using the IDS method with an average drying rate of 0.018 kg H2O per kg dry-weighthour and the water content was constant at 5.02% in 21 hours of diving time. The most suitable kinetics model is Page model, equation MR = exp (-0.049 0,32) for 1.0 cm thickness, exp (-0.066 t(1,221)) for1.5 cm thickness and exp (-0.049 t(1,221)) for 2.0 cm thickness. The quality of potato drying using ISD method is better than using OSD which can be seen from the color produced.