Design and Construction of Hybrid Dryer for Grains

The demand for an efficient drying method among farmers has increased due to the need to reduce substantial losses resulting from inadequate drying facilities. Most imported dryers are too expensive and not accessible to small-scale farmers. Traditional methods like sun drying and solar dryers are limited to daytime use and depend on solar irradiation and weather conditions, including cloud cover, relative humidity, and wind speed. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a locally developed grain dryer. A prototype hybrid grain dryer was carefully designed, fabricated, and assembled at the Department of Agricultural and Bio-resources Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Its components include an axial fan, solar collector, heating chamber, air duct, drying tray, drying chamber, and frame. The dryer was evaluated with maize grain and showed impressive sensible heat utilization efficiency and drying efficiency of (55.9%, 65.6%, 68.0%) and (27.7%, 29.9%, 32.8%) across air flow rate of 3.6, 4.5 and 6.1 m3/s and (53.0%, 63.1%, 73.5%) and (23.2%, 29.8%, 37.3%) across grain depths of 5, 10, 20cm respectively.