Utilization of solar drying for food preservation would be a step towards sustainable food processing. Even today, most of the agricultural and marine products are dried under open sun-drying. However, this method is associated with several drawbacks, which then leads to the use of solar dryer. Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has developed a solar drying system with loading capacity of 50kg to enhance the drying process of various food products. Design parameters particularly focused in this project includes the air movement pattern in drying chamber, heating system employed, air circulation ventilation and the airflow configuration in solar heat collector. Results revealed that solar dried products attained desired moisture content in shorter drying time. Temperature profile in updraft and downdraft drying mode indicated that no temperature fluctuation occurred when switching in between. Maximum temperature achieved under complete solar mode were 65C and 83C for single-pass and multi-pass solar heat collector, respectively. Under solar-hybrid mode, higher temperature was attained under intermittent ventilation mode. It can be concluded that UMS Eco-Solar Dryer is an environmentally and economically efficient drying system for the food processing industry.

利用太阳能干燥进行食品保鲜将是迈向可持续食品加工的一步。即使在今天，大部分农产品和海产品都是在露天晒干的。然而，这种方法有几个缺点，因此导致使用太阳能干燥机。马来西亚沙巴大学 (UMS) 开发了一种负载能力为 50 公斤的太阳能干燥系统，以加强各种食品的干燥过程。该项目特别关注的设计参数包括干燥室中的空气流动模式、采用的加热系统、空气循环通风和太阳能集热器中的气流配置。结果表明，太阳能干燥产品在更短的干燥时间内达到所需的水分含量。上升气流和下降气流干燥模式下的温度曲线表明，在两者之间切换时没有发生温度波动。在完全太阳能模式下，单通道和多通道太阳能集热器的最高温度分别为 65C 和 83C。在太阳能混合模式下，在间歇通风模式下获得更高的温度。可以得出结论，UMS Eco-Solar Dryer 是一种适用于食品加工业的环保和经济高效的干燥系统。