Product Orientacion (Cross-Sectional or Longitudinal) in the Drying Performance

An experimental comparison of the effect to cucumber slices in cross-sectional and longitudinal form — with respect to the air flow direction — in a solar dryer is carried out. The indirect solar dryer device, has been constructed, installed and characterized at the Universidad Auto´noma Metropolitana Iztapalapa. Each cucumber of each lot is distributed in equal amounts in the two positions. The temperature and the drying curves of cucumber slices from the two different positions are included. Image analysis was used to follow geometrical parameters (size, perimeter, diameter) changes and shrinkage due to intracellular water loss. The same method was used to estimate superficial area changes from the photographic images taken during thermal dehydration process.