Development of a rice drying machine using solar energy combined with a heater

Abstract

This article presents the development of a rice dryer to reduce the moisture content of paddy from traditional drying methods. It is drying with a machine that uses solar energy and dried with a machine that uses solar energy with a heater. The temperature was controlled at 45 °C. It used a 12V 150W heater, 12V 50A battery, 80W polycrystalline solar panel. That was conducted 2 kg of rice for 90 minutes, results were recorded every 30 minutes.  In all three tests, the original test was reduced humidity of 10.38 %Rh, the test by a dryer built with solar energy decreased by 9.52 %Rh. And addition testing by a dryer built in conjunction with a heater and solar energy, the dehumidification was the greatest, with a humidity reduction of 16.24%Rh with an investment of 23,360 baht and break-even when using 14,157 kg of paddy drying.