Diseño de un prototipo de secador solar para frutilla (fragaria vesca) utilizando modelos matemáticos.

Abstract

The purpose of this situation work is to design a prototype of a solar dryer for strawberries, for which the average environmental conditions in which the solar dryer will work were determined and the methodology of the mathematical model of Duffie and Beckman for the solar collector was developed and the drying chamber in the Visual Basic software verifying the temperature and performance of the solar dryer. For the design of the solar dryer we proceeded to the selection of the strawberry theme that was used being the best option the Monterey strawberry, we determined the type of solar dryer that was built being the best option the natural convection dryer, we determined the required area in The drying chamber for the quantity of products of 2 kg of Monterrey strawberry, defining the dimensions of the drying chamber, we calculate the energy requirement to dry that quantity of product and with that requirement the solar collector is sized, we assign the types of materials for the construction of the solar dryer taking into account the physical requirements of each section of the dryer, for the verification of the design and the assignment of the materials we simulate in the SolidWorks educational software the behavior that the solar dryer will have obtaining in the simulation a maximum temperature of drying of 50 degrees Celsius. The drying of the strawberry was done in a time of 8 hours obtaining an average temperature in the drying chamber of 44.8 degrees Celsius, of 2 kg of strawberry that was dried, 230 grams of dry product were obtained with 12.2% humidity. Due to the global warming that affects the environmental conditions it is recommended to automate the air outlet regulator in the chimney to have an optimal drying temperature and not to affect the physical, chemical and organoleptic properties of the product.