Effect of Parallelepipedic and Spherical Shapes Dimensions on Convective Drying Characteristics of Sweet Potato

The aim of this work is to determine the characteristic dimension governing transfers during convective drying. Parallelepipedic and cylindrical form of sweet potato was used. This present work determines this characteristic dimension for the samples of sweet potatoes of parallelepipedal and cubic shapes. We have fixed the characteristic dimension in the direction of the thickness of the samples of parallelepiped shape and of the radius for the samples of cylindrical shape. For the parallelepidic form P_L-l-e, the thickness e is set to 1cm while the length L and the width l vary. The results show that the variation of the dimensions other than the thickness e does not influence the transfers in a considerable way. The same observation is made for the cylindrical samples c_H-R by keeping the radius R constant. From the foregoing, the thickness of the parallelepiped samples turns out to be the dimension that best governs the transfers versus its length and width. Likewise, with regard to cylindrical samples, the fixed radius smaller than the height is the characteristic dimension of the transfers in the product during its convective drying. If we know that the initial size is an important factor for transfers during convective drying (Ouoba, 2013), this present work therefore allows us to conclude that the thickness of the parallelepiped-shaped samples and the radius of the cylindrical shapes, all being the smallest dimensions, characterize the transfers. This work highlights the importance and the existence of a characteristic dimension that dictated the transfers during the convective drying of organic products such as sweet potatoes.