food preservation

Commercial Food Dryer

[preserving >10 kg vegetables, fruit, meat, and herbs using a hybrid solar-battery system]

[Summary & Motivation] [Community] [Specifications] [Issues] [Contacts] [Diagrams / Pictures]

Summary & Motivation	Project Initiator: ATS Start Date: Summer, 2005 Projected Completion Date: Not applicable Current Status: Design stage Where individual household solar dryers would be prohibitively expensive, an entrepreneur could buy one larger solar dryer for a rural community and then sell drying time to the community members. Doing so would be an excellent way to increase food preservation while fostering the development of small businesses. [top]
Community	There are several small communities in Lesotho which would benefit from the technology. ATS is planning on targeting local entrepreneurs in rural communities. [top]
Specifications	Able to dry greater than ten kilograms of food Can be powered using battery back-up during cloudy times [top]
Issues	As this item is still in the development stage, there are several areas ripe for innovation. Help is needed in the following areas: Developing a hybrid solar-battery system to dry large quantities of food. Designing electric circuitry, including thermostatic on/off switch for DC power. Determing best way to circulate air in among trays. Determining best way to market larger capacity dryer. [top]
Contacts	Project Leader: Koranta Matete MIT Contact: Not available (If interested, please email mit_ats@MIT.edu) ATS Contact: Koranta Matete <korantam@Hotmail.com> Website (If applicable):   [top]
Diagrams / Pictures	DOCUMENTS Description (Name) [Date] Download Rough Sketches Consists of four pictures taken of sketches in Ntate Mabea's office concerning the physical design and schedule for delivery of the commercial food dryer. Captions added (M. Zedler / L. Mabea) [8.31.05] *.doc (4.46 MB) PICTURES Description (Name) [Date] Download Prototype Photo Album Pictures of the prototype constructed by ATS to test the concept of using a hybrid solar / electric system. Prototype failed because fan stopped working (ATS / M. Zedler) [8.30.05]. *.html (Link) [top]

*.pdf - Portable Document File / *.doc - Document (Microsoft Word) / *.jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group (Browser) / *.zip - WinZip Compressed File (WinZip)

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