Method of drying melon using solar radiation and a household solar-infrared dryer

Preliminary processing is carried out in a solar greenhouse unit over two days, with thewhole melon being turned 180 degrees daily. A household solar-infrared drying unit has beendeveloped, in which the vapor-air mixture is removed during the drying process through naturalvacuum. A two-day preliminary treatment of melon fruits using inexpensive solar radiation in thegreenhouse unit is recommended. During this process, solar rays penetrate through the melonpeel into the edible part, creating micro-pores at a depth of 1.2 cm, which helps accelerate thedrying process and reduce drying time. Preliminary processing contributes to a 10.4% increase inmoisture loss relative to the total weight of the melon.With only one opening (the top one) for the vapor-air mixture to exit the drying chamber of thesolar-infrared drying unit, a natural vacuum is created due to the pulsating release of the vapor-airmixture. This vacuum draws out the evaporated water vapor from the depth of the melon slicesthrough the micro-pores, thereby accelerating the drying process by 30% compared to untreatedmelon fruit.