Design and Performance of Hybrid Solar Fish Dryer with Back Up Element Heater

The aim of this research was to design and construct of hybrid solar fish dryer with back up element heater . This research was conducted in the fishing area of Ciparage Jaya, Karawang Regency, West Java Indonesia. The results of the design of the dryer has dimensions of length 120 cm, width 90 cm and height 180 cm. The main part of the dryer are collector and drying chamber which consist of 4 shelves and combined by heater elements as back up heat energy. The manufacturing cost required to design this dryer until it is ready for use is Rp. 4.453.000,- .To reduce the moisture content of 20 kg of fish to 30% with this dryer it takes 7 hours with details of 4 hours using hybrid and 3 hours using solar energy maximized by a collector. The results of statistical analysis showed that 27.5% of chamber temperature was influenced by solar radiation which is maximized by the solar collector. While the rest is influenced by the other factors such as heat source of heater element and axial fan to accelerate the flow rate of hot air. The amount of heat energy needed to reduce the water content of 20 kg of fish untill 30% using this dryer is 18,112.79 kJ.