Design and implementation of smart and automatic oven for food drying

• Published in: Measurement and control (London) 2021-03, Vol.54 (3-4), p.396-407
• Main Authors: Tümay, Mehmet, Ünver, Halil Murat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Complexity; Curve fitting; Drying ovens; Fruits; Kinematics; Microprocessors; Moisture content; Ovens; Real time; Ripening; Vegetables; Weight
• ISSN: 0020-2940; 2051-8730
• DOI: 10.1177/00202940211000084

Fruits and vegetables ripen at certain times of the year and must be ripe for consumption. However, in the short-term ripening period, some of the fresh vegetables and fruits that are more than the consumable amount deteriorate before they can be consumed. Picking up fruits and vegetables when they are ripe and drying the surplus for later use is the most common storage method. In recent years, where technology has developed rapidly, instead of drying in the sun, solutions are produced in which the drying processes are managed automatically by using the drying kinematics of the products. The most recent techniques manage the drying process by measuring the weight of the wet and dried products during heating. Also, different types of ovens such as microwave ovens are tried to increase the efficiency of the drying process. These are rather complex solutions. In this study, a smart system that manages the drying process in real-time by using the humidity in the environment instead of weight together with the drying kinematics of the product is designed. So the complexity of the system is simplified. Also, the total duration of the drying process is exactly estimated by using the moisture content in the environment and the drying model of the product. In the study, firstly, data on the drying stage were collected with the experiments made for each product. These data were processed in a Matlab environment and a drying model with a curve fitting method was developed for each product. The drying models developed in the study were loaded into the processor of the smart oven and the entire drying process was managed in real-time. With the developed system solution, when the process is started, the drying time is estimated according to the amount processed and the type of product, and the drying time of the drying process is estimated by using the moisture content in the environment and the drying model of the product. In this way, pre-drying and post-drying stages can be planned.