Better late than never, the first attempt to get this away bounced. On 24 Sep 02, Lloyd Charles wrote:
> Gooday David and Rex ---8<--- > The Grainger installation worked by the use of a system of > interconnected curved collector panels covered with glass mirrors > that focussed sunlight to heat a water pipe system - hot water was > accumulated and stored in a large tank (2000gal+) and this was > used via a heat exchanger system to replace the propane heat source > in the drying tunnel. Using hot water allowed energy storage and > longer running times.It worked well when first installed - a major > benefit is that the burnt gases are no longer there to contaminate > the fruit. I can post more on this if youre interested, my friend > has gone to the happy hunting ground but I still have some of the > leftover bits in my yard Complexity!! After many years as an engineer I'm looking for the simple (ie Fukuoka's "do nothing" or taoist) solution. 8-] The simplicity of Poisson's design appealed at first sight but both Ron P and Dave R have pointed out that it lacks efficiency. Daughter Sonja has been researching and testing a range of dehyrating methods and the pdf file Dave referenced gives construction plans for a successful solar unit that has repeatedly come up in her search. It will be a good step along in our dehydrating endeavours. Thanks to all... Rex
