PID Controlled Convection Betel Nut Dryer

Abstract

This research is to build and measure efficiency of PID controlled convection betel nut dryer with the aim of reducing time for dehumidification and improving quality of the dried betel nuts. This dryer is designed to transfer convection current by using 1200-Watt, 220-Volt finned heater for heating, tangential fan to transfer heat, applying PID control techniques and using Arduino R3 board for processing. System performance is determined by testing the response time and comparing it with traditional drying methods.

Results of the experiment showed that at temperature of 70°C, the system showed the response of the temperature overshoot was 4.27 percent, the rise time was 120 seconds, and the settling time was 383.38 seconds. At the temperature of 90°C, the system showed the response of the temperature overshoot was 2.49 percent, the rise time was 342.72 seconds, and the settling time was 667.78 seconds. At both test temperatures, the system was able to maintain a stable operating temperature with an error of no more than 2.5 percent. For testing of drying betel nuts, the betel dryer was able to dry the betel pieces similar to that of the traditional betel nuts drying process using 1 hour and 20 minutes, saving more time faster than the traditional method that normally takes 4-5 days.