www.tjprc.org SCOPUS Indexed Journal editor@tjprc.org ANALYSIS OF DIRECT, INDIRECT AND HYBRID SOLAR DRYER VIJAY R. KHAWALE & BHOJRAJ N. KALE Assistant Professor, Mechanical Department, DBACER, Nagpur, India ABSTRACT The purpose of the paper is to gain knowledge and compare the various kinds of Solar Crop Dryer (SCD) used to dry agricultural crops. There are many types of SCD and conventional methods that are being researched. Analyzing and comparing various kinds of SCD shows that sun utilization is a promising technology. The availability of space in urban areas, irregular sunshine, high initial cost and facilities problem are the major obstacles to their acceptance by Indian farmer. Research and development should overcome all of these limitations. In order to improve the approval of farmers, it is essential to design a large scale and inexpensive SCD. Research & development in solar drying technology has made significant progress. An overview of the development of solar drying technology is suitable for agricultural growth. KEYWORDS: Solar Dryer, Indirect Solar Crop Dryer, Agriculture Food Product, Farmer & Economical Received: Mar 08, 2020; Accepted: Mar 28, 2020; Published: May 26, 2020; Paper Id.: IJMPERDJUN202070 INTRODUCTION Agricultural food products are dried using solar dryers which is more acceptable due to their low cost compared to conventional and motorized drying systems, mainly in the region where there is more sunshine during the harvest season. In developing countries, small farmers face food loss when they produce more than 80% of their food products. Farmers from the old edge usually used Open Sun Drying (OSD) to preserve agricultural crops such as grains, fruits and vegetables. Compared to other drying methods, open sun drying is a time consuming process and causes considerable damage to food products. The quality of the product has not been preserved due to the infestation of insects, enzymatic reactions and increased micro-organisms. Adverse weather conditions such as rain, wind, humidity and dust cause difficulties such as spoiling food products while drying in the open sun. Agricultural products are spoiled due to birds & animals and decay, decay by insect infestation and fungal growth. Also, this process requires large area, labor and more time consuming. Small-scale farmers use high initial cost and maintenance like artificial mechanical dryers that are powered by fossil fuels. In such situations, solar-powered crop dryers are attractive compared to other conventional dryers due to their advantages such as economy, time saving and quality. Climate conditions have prompted farmers to use solar dryers which have a great impact on crop damage and degradation during drying in the open sun. Solar dryers can be effectively proven through experiments in many countries used for drying agricultural products on solar dryers. The question before the farmer is what kind of SCD should be adopted. The drying process use to remove the moisture from a food product so that the food products do not corrode for a long time. [2] The drying process continues until the moisture vapor pressure in the food products is equal to the moisture pressure in the atmosphere [1, 2]. Thus, the removal of moisture from the product into the environment and the rates Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN (P): 2249–6890; ISSN (E): 2249–8001 Vol. 10, Issue 3, Jun 2020, 775–792 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.