General Start-up Procedures

1. Drying plates was removed from the support frame.

2. The scale was tared to zero.
3. Drying plates were inserted individually into support frame, read off and the weight of
the individual drying plates on the digital scale was noted.
4. The material to be dried in a thin layer on the drying plates was spread.
5. Drying plates were inserted in support frame and the total weight was noted.
6. Fan was switched on and the speed was set.
7. The flow speed with manual anemometer was measured and noted.
8. Heating level was set and switched on.
9. Then, the drying experiment was started and time measurement was commenced
using stopwatch.

General Shut-down Procedures

1. The power was switched off for the balance, heater and fan.
2. The batteries was removed from anemometer if not used for a long period.
3. All the equipment was cleaned thoroughly after use.

METHODOLOGY / PROCEDURE

1. Sufficient potato to fill the four trays each should be accurately weighed.
2. At t=0, switched on and set the fan speed control and heater power control.
3. Wait the dryer until steady state temperature had reached.
4. The wet and dry bulb temperatures had recorded.
5. The total weight of wet potato should be noted before the drying commences.
6. While the material was being dried, recorded the following:
a. The total weight of potato were weighting during interval time for 80 minutes.
b. The wet and dry bulb temperatures and air velocity had recorded
CONCLUSION

The objective of this experiment was to determine the drying rate of food sample, in
our case we used potato, by drying method using tray dryer. This objective was successfully
achieved because we have known how to dry food sample by using the tray dryer and had learnt
about how to determine drying rate of food sample. Based on the data plotted, we can conclude
that the moisture content and mass of the food sample decreasing by time while the drying rates
of the food sample shows inconsistent reading by time. Drying rates is not much depending by
time but actually depends on the moisture content of the food. The drying rate decreases as the
moisture content decreases with time. The falling rate period can take far longer time than the
constant rate period even though the moisture removal may be less.