Automated Temperature Controlled Solar Dryer for Ascorbic Acid Retention in Fruits
Abstract
This paper proposes to analyze a solar drying model with an Arduino controller for controlled temperature drying to ensure efficient drying. The biggest limitation of the traditional sun drying method is that the temperature is not properly controlled. An automatic temperature-controlled drying process produces high-quality drying of fruits. The goal of this project is to produce an affordable, easy-to-use solar dryer with automatic temperature control capability for home and industrial use. It provides a continuous monitoring function and eliminates the need for regular temperature testing. In this created miniature model, the drying efficiency of automatic temperature-controlled solar drying is 6% higher than that of conventional solar drying, and temperature drying removes 8.33% more moisture from the product for lemon peel. The dried final product of the miniature model has 20% more ascorbic acid than the sun-dried product.
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Introduction
The world is racing toward automation everything we have done manually is now become automated. The conventional techniques for food safety and quality analysis (vitamin) are very tedious and time-consuming and require trained personnel. Therefore, there is a need to develop quick sensitive, and reliable techniques for quickly monitoring food quality and safety. This can be overcome by using the sensor and automation in the food processing industry. This research focuses on building and implementing automated temperature-controlled solar dryers at affordable prices with the help of microprocessors, sensors, cooling fans, transistors, etc. Controlling the temperature of food is extremely important in ensuring that food is safe to eat and must ensure that food is always cooked, cooled, chilled, or reheated properly to minimize the risk of harmful levels of bacteria in the foods.
The system for controlling temperature automatically is achieved by using an Arduino UNO-based microcontroller system. The test result is displayed with the help of the LCD. The program is written in Arduino IDE. The Arduino UNO board sends the temperature measurement input to the cooling fan, which is ON/OFF automatically based on the input values of temperature. To sense the temperature, an LM35 temperature sensor is used. Using an Arduino UNO board circuit, the temperature was Controlled automatically in a solar dryer. Initially, a small solar dryer model was developed which controls the inside temperature of the solar miniature model using an Arduino UNO board circuit. In this model temperature is controlled by a cooling system with the help of Arduino UNO board so that the product drying inside the solar miniature model, doesn’tlose their nutrient or less amount of nutrients are lost. The scope of our project is to eliminate the need for continuous and manual monitoring of temperature, control the temperature of solar dryers, and prevent the destruction of vitamins in fruits during drying.
Ashara et al. (2015) suggested, that the design and implementation of microcontroller-based temperature control using an electric fan automatically switches the speed according to the change inner temperature of the box. The system contains an LM35 temperature sensor, 89C51 microcontroller, fan interface circuit, and the box. Khine (2015) suggested that the room temperature control system using a peripheral interface controller (PIC) is to provide the concepts of PIC and to develop the factories, buildings, and rooms by using temperature measurement and control systems. Sihombing et al. (2018) developed automatic control of the temperature of an oyster mushroom system, using an Arduino UNO microcontroller. The sensors are placed around the root of the oyster mushroom and will transmit the detection result every time to the Arduino microcontroller. Mangwala et al. (2018) studied the design and simulation of an automatic room heater control system. This system allows the user to set a desired temperature which is then compared to the room temperature measured by a temperature sensor. Roy et al. (2019) revealed that the microcontroller forms the processing part, which firstly senses the temperature and the controller then compares the data with the set temperature. If the current temperature is less than the set temperature, the fan will be turned OFF the fan’sspeed will change according to the temperature. Aneja et al. (2019) cover the study of PLC, microcontrollers, and sensors which will be beneficial to readers in understanding the difference between the application of PLC and microcontrollers in controlling temperature. Thakre et al. (2017) examined the design and implementation of an automated temperature control system using a PIC microcontroller to control the temperature of the system. This project mainly includes the temperature control of the heater, temperature control of the surroundings in winter, and voltage controli.e., it works as a stabilizer & also as a dryer in rainy seasons. Siddika et al. (2018) evaluated that Arduino UNO forms the processing part. Firstly detect the human with the use of a PIR sensor and sense the temperature with the use of LM35 (Temperature sensor). Arduino UNO senses the temperature and controls the speed with the set temperature, which is set by the user. Tun (2018) studied the microcontroller-based temperature control system controls the temperature of any device according to its requirement for any industrial application. At the heart of the circuit is the PIC16F887. A microcontroller that controls all its functions.
Conclusion
In this miniature model, the temperature is controlled using a cooling fan, so that can be used to dry a heat-sensitive product without/with minimum nutritional destruction. This seems to be a robust way of handling only temperature control on an automatic basis. In this research, the citrus fruit peel is dried in an automated temperature-controlled method compared to sun drying and other electrical dryers. It is noted that the drying efficiency of the automatic temperature-controlled drying is 6% greater than the normal temperature drying. Because of the controlled temperature in solar drying which prevents the destruction of heat-liability vitaminsi.e., ascorbic acid. The nutrients retained in automatic temperature-controlled solar drying are 20% more than in sun drying.