Comparative Investigation on Drying Efficiency of the Solar Dryer Using Aluminium as the Absorber Plate Against The Stainless Steel Absorber Plate for Drying Copra

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study is to compare the drying efficiency of aluminium and stainless steel absorber plates in coconut drying. Materials and Methods: The sample size for the groups were determined as 20 for each group, a total of 40 for the groups using a simple sample size calculator, with G power of 80% by keeping threshold 0.05, confidence interval 95% and enrollment ratio as 1. As comparison groups, the control and experimental groups were chosen. Coconut samples on stainless steel absorber plate served as the control group, whereas coconut samples on aluminium absorber plate served as the experimental group. A hot air oven and a formula were used to determine the moisture content of these coconut samples.
Results: The results demonstrate that the mean moisture content reduction for aluminium is 31.15%, while the mean moisture content reduction for stainless steel is 25.36% for coconut samples. With a p value of 0.007, the independent samples t-test revealed that both groups are statistically significant for moisture content reduction.

Conclusion: The drying effectiveness of aluminium and stainless steel absorber plates was evaluated in terms of moisture content reduction, and it was determined that aluminium absorber plates had a better drying efficiency than stainless steel absorber plates.