Effect of inlet temperature and ventilation on heat transfer rate and water content removal of red chilies

Chilies are an important agricultural product that is becoming a potential product in Indonesia. Chilies need to be dried in order to be durable. A new drying method was investigated in this study using a simple radiator as a heating source of the heating room. The amount of heat that can be transferred depends on the tested parameters. One parameter is the water temperature. Therefore, our aim was to determine the effect of inlet temperature and ventilation on the heat transfer and water content removal. The temperature employed at the entrance of the radiator varied from 60 °C to 80 °C, while the water mass flow rate used was kept at approximately 12 g/s. The initial heating room temperature was around 30 °C. Agricultural products tested were red chilies with a water content of 86 % - 90 %. The results show that variation of water temperature affects the heat transfer rate and the water content removal, while the prevailing ventilation supports the heat transfer rate but decreases the water removal.