CIFT has developed a hot air-assisted continuous infrared dryer, which finds multitude of applications especially in fish and fishery products drying. Dryer capacity is 50 kg/day and consist of feed hopper, belt conveyor arrangements, infrared radiation heating system, hot air generation and circulation arrangements, motor and gear arrangements, discharge chute and control panel. Drying chamber has four vertical layers of conveyor belts and made of stainless steel (SS 304) wire mesh and end rollers are made of stainless steel. Infrared heating source of this dryer was ceramic infrared heater. Hot air generation zone consists of two axial air distribution fan and finned U-shaped electrical heaters. A geared motor is connected to all four layers of conveyor end rollers through chain and sprocket mechanism. The conveyor belt speed can be controlled by a variable frequency drive and also by an ON-OFF timer. Control panel is provided with the dryer which has display and controls for all arrangements.

Technology Benefits 

• Ideal for drying of fish, fruits, vegetables, spices and agro products  
• Hygienically prepared premium quality uniformly dried product
• Quick, energy efficient and continuous dryer with less operating expenses
• Superior quality product in terms of physical and quality characteristics will be helpful to the fisher folk to improve their livelihood 
• Hygienic continuous dry fish production process using a hot-air assisted continuous infrared dryer is an alternative to hot air /convective drying of various fish
• The most commercially viable drying equipment suitable for commercial-scale continuous dry fish production