Improving the performance of a traditional dryer functioning on renewable energy sources (part I)

Most traditional drying processes are poorly adapted to the requirements of standardization because the heat sources are natural. A typical example is fish smoking / drying using traditional biomass dryer. In order to improve the performance of this type of dryer, a heat exchanger in stainless steel is integrated to recover waste and excess heat from the main source. Water circulates in the piping thanks to a centrifugal pump powered by a photovoltaic source. This fluid is stored in a tank with insulation improved by sawdust treated with formalin. The stored heat is later conducted back through the same piping to the drying chamber when the fire from wood is off. Thus, the drying of fish may be continued both day and night. A better yield is obtained by adding glycerol to water for 1/10 of total volume.