Design and Implementation of Low-Cost Solar Dryer Based Android for Agricultural Crops

Abstract

Smartphone technology is developing very quickly and becoming an integral part of our lives. The technology provides many conveniences the users can obtain, including in agriculture. One such convenience is in providing better way to dry horticultural crops for farmers, since the traditional drying method has many drawbacks. In addition to the long drying processing time, the traditional method also damages many crops and reduces net production. To overcome this problem, the convenience that exists in smartphone technology can be combined with PV (Photovoltaics) technology, producing an alternative solution to replace the traditional drying process. This study aims to design a low-cost drying agricultural product using a wi-fi Sonoff module to control and send signals using the E-WeLink application installed on smartphones that can be applied to small-scale agro-industrial farmers. A solar dryer was tested on chili and corn seeds. Experimental results revealed that the time efficiency has improved by about 26.67% for chili and 27.27% for corn seeds compared to conventional processes. Meanwhile, in terms of energy required for the drying process, this system succeeded in producing 25% - 45.11% efficiency compared to the energy required with conventional processes. In addition, the system can be used as a source of lighting, which can be monitored and controlled from a smartphone application via a wi-fi network