Experimental investigation and performance evaluation of an indirect solar dryer: Effect of drying trays

Indirect solar dryers represent a clean and sustainable solution for reducing the moisture content of a variety of food and medical products. This technique enables products to be preserved over long periods, stored in compact volumes, and used when required.In this context, improving the efficiency of these systems is essential. Therefore, an experimental study of an indirect solar dryer operating with natural convection has been carried out in this paper. The experimental tests were performed at the Mechanics and Energy Laboratory at the Technopole research center,Oujda, Morocco, in August 2022. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the drying process of banana slices using three different types of drying trays, two made of wire mesh and one of perforated galvanized sheet. The evaluation of the drying system was mainly based on the variation in the moisture content of banana slices. Accordingly, five samples corresponding to different positions in each tray were examined. The obtained results show that banana slices in A-type mesh trays have a faster reduction in moisture content and a better quality than the other trays.