STUDIES ON SOLAR DRYING FOR ROUCH RICE

Three types of solar grain dryers, namely , the solar grain bin dryer, the solar greenhouse rotary drum dryer and small scale solar green house tray dryer, have been tested. The results showed that each type of solar grain dryer has its feature. These solar drying units have three main advantages : (1) Required commercial energy to remove 1Kg moist from rough rice is only 5.3% to 15.8% of the energy consumed by common heated dryer : 2) The area of solar drying system is only about 10% of the area of the sunny ground to give equal drying capacity ; (3) There are good drying quality in the moisture uniform , germination percentage, and grain color.