IP&D Experts offers you an new way of hygienic drying at low costs: The Solar Drying System. With this system you can reduce drying time, improve food quality, increase the amount of dried product by using drying cabinets, improve food safety, preserve food for later use, discover new markets, preserve food for export. Besides the Solar Drying System is easy to construct with local materials, easy to connect to your existing greenhouse and easy to adapt to your specific needs. David Hollestelle, director of IP&D Experts designed the Solar Drying System (SDS) when he was on a mission in Peru as a senior consultant. The SDS is invaluable for local farmers who want to get more out of their product. It ensures that they can dry fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices in a hygienic way (no longer outside on the ground). Besides that the food retains its color and processing time is shorter and less labor intensive

Here you can read about the global features of this system. If you are interested in the building details, please let us know. We made a brochure with al the information you need to construct your own Solar Drying System.

In contrast to sun drying, where the food is exposed directly to the sun, the Solar Drying System uses indirect solar radiation.

The principle of the Solar Drying System is to collect solar energy by heating-up the air volume in solar collectors and conduct the hot air from the collector to an attached  greenhouse. Here the products to be dried are laid out in drying cabinets: wooden boxes with screens in it.

The warm air – generated by the solar collector – enters the greenhouse at the top and flows up and down through the screened frames. Because of the hot air dehydration takes place. The drying process takes approximately 8 hours. The result is hygienically dried, high-quality food.

The Solar Drying System is a simple, hygienic drier which you can make yourself with local building materials like wood of bamboo. The size of the Solar Drying System is easy scalable. It is built in all identical sections. So you can enlarge of downsize it to your drying needs.

You can use the Solar Drying System to dry all kinds of food. For example fruits like pineapple, mango, papaya, banana, guave, carambola, starfruit, durian, rambutan, passion fruit,  jackfruit and pitahaya. Or vegetables like beans, peas, beets, carrots, turnips,potatoes, yams, onions, pumkin and cereal grains. And you can dry herbs and spices like turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, clove, pepper, vanilla, rosemary, sage, savory and thyme.

The big advantage of the Solar Drying System is the high food quality, food safety and the fact that the food retains its color. Besides the processing time is shorter and less labour intensive. All you have to do is cut it into small slices or pieces and put them in the drying cabinets in your greenhouse. 

• Reduces drying time
• Improves food quality
• Increases the amount of dried product by using drying cabinets
• Improves food safety
• Preserves food for later use
• Gives opportunity’s for new markets
• Preserves food for export
• Easy to construct with local materials
• Easy to connect to your existing greenhouse
• Easy to adapt to your specific needs