Solar dryers are imperative for the tropical and sub-Saharan African countries, which are faced with the duo challenges of\r\ninadequate electrical energy supply, which has severely limited the application of conventional refrigeration as a means of\r\npreservation of agricultural produce, and the need to make produce competitive in the international market. In this study, a costeffective\r\nnatural convection solar dryer was developed; the thermal and drying analyses were done and tested to obtain some\r\nperformance evaluation parameters for the system in order to examine its efficiency and effectiveness by drying some plantain\r\nfillets. The collector and system efficiencies are found to be 46.4% and 78.73%, respectively, while a percentage moisture removal\r\nof 77.5% was achieved at the 20th hour in order to give final moisture contents of 15.75% in the product, which still maintained its\r\nintegrity.With a cost of about $195.00, it has been affordable for the small- and medium-scale enterprises as well as for private use\r\nin domestic applications.
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