ASSIGNMENT

. NAME INDEX NO MODULE :K.A.Y.L. Harischandra : 090172H :Intellectual Property

TITLE:

NOVEL

DEVICE

TO

DEHYDRATE

FRUITS,

VEGETABLES AND SIMILAR ITEMS

INTRODUCTION
Fruits, vegetables and similar items, in their natural state, deteriorate within very limited time. Therefore, to save wastage of food canning, bottling and drying techniques are used. Both canning and bottling need heavy and expensive machinery and also results in heavy and bulky items which are difficult & expensive to transport. Therefore a high demand for dehydrated food exists in the market today. Pineapple, mango, banana, papaya, rambutan and jackfruit (waraka) etc. are often dried, packed and sealed to keep them for a long time. The weight reduction resulted by the dehydration reduces the transport costs and the lower moisture content results in easier handling. The regeneration of dehydrated food is also easy. But the major problem with regard to dehydration in Sri Lanka is that it is not up to the International standards which make the dehydrated fruit and vegetable products of Sri Lanka unacceptable in foreign countries. In this invention, a novel method & a process is described to dehydrate fruits & vegetables to very high standards and quality.

STATE OF THE ART

Using hot air to dehydrate food is the most common method adopted in Sri Lanka. Several researches have been done as to how to create hot air using solar energy, electricity, gas, firewood etc. Solar energy is not efficient and it varies time to time. Electricity and gas are simply too expensive. Firewood emit smoke which in turn require heat exchangers to be installed.

There are certain drawbacks and shortcomings to fruits and vegetables and similar items dehydration with hot air. 1. Higher the temperature of air, higher the rate of drying. But when fruits and vegetables are heated above a certain temperature it causes spoiling of fruits and vegetables (if fruits and vegetables are heated above 50-600C they lose flavor, appearance and nutrition). 2. Higher mass flow increase rate of dehydration, but it removes only the surface moisture. Moisture from inside the fruits and vegetables has to come to the surface through osmosis, which is not accelerated by any means of the process. 3. Higher temperature and higher mass flow rate creates a defect called surface hardening. Surface hardening occurs where the surface is dry while the inside is wet and spongy which is very bad quality.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates, therefore, to a novel process with several inventive steps to overcome the above drawbacks and to give higher productivity in food dehydration. Main inventive features or steps in addition to, or among others are; 1. The fruit pieces are to be heated from within. The inside moisture then can be expected to come to surface much faster than osmosis. Although electricity is used as the power source, as heating is done from inside fruit or vegetable piece itself energy efficiency is high in this method. The theoretical analysis and experimentation have confirmed this. 2. Obtain partial vacuum to remove moisture 3. Dehydration is carried out in lower relative humidity atmosphere. As the drying rate is dependent on relative humidity of air, if relative humidity is reduced drying rate is increased. By reducing the temperature of air relative humidity can be reduced. But since it will need more energy to be supplied to heat air again, thus a method where air is passed through silica gel is employed to reduce relative humidity by reducing the moisture content of air. This ensures recirculation of hot air while relative humidity is dropped.

Now having described the invention in general, given below is a specific embodiment given in way of explanation only, but in no way binding or limiting the scope of this invention.

In this invention fruits and vegetables are heated from inside by microwave heating and/or Infrared heating. A partial vacuum atmosphere is created by using a vacuum pump or reverse running a refrigerator compressor. The lower relative humidity atmosphere is obtained by using a moisture absorbent material such as silica gel.

The theoretical analysis and experimentation show energy efficiency is high. Though electricity is used as the power source, as heating is done in fruit piece itself and not by heating air as in the conventional method, this is more efficient.

CLAIMS

Now having described the invention in general, and with specific embodiments as examples only, but not binding in scope what I claim are,

1. A device or a process in which dehydration of fruits, vegetables and similar items is carried out in an atmosphere of a partial vacuum. 2. A device or a process in which dehydration of fruits, vegetables and similar items is carried out in lower relative humidity. 3. A device or a process in which dehydration of fruits, vegetables and similar items is carried out where product is heated from inside to accelerate the transfer of moisture from inside to the surface. 4. A device or a product as claimed in claim 1, where in the partial vacuum is created by using a vacuum pump or by reverse running a refrigerator compressor in reverse. 5. A device or a product as claimed in claim 2, in which the relative humidity of the atmosphere is reduced using a suitable moisture absorbing material. 6. A device or a product as claimed in claim 5, in which the moisture absorbing material is silica gel. 7. A device or a product as claimed in claim 3, where in the heating is carried out by using microwave and/or IR. 8. A device or a product as claimed in claim 7, where IR is produced using IR LEDs and/or IR bulbs and/or IR heating elements and/or any other suitable IR device. 9. A device or a product as claimed in any one or more of the above claims where incorporation of partial vacuum, incorporation of reducing relative humidity, and incorporation of heating from inside which will incorporate any two or more of the above. 10. A device or a product in any of the above claims or substantially similar to what was described in the description.

ABSTRACT
Food items, in their natural state, deteriorate within very limited time. Therefore, to save wastage of food canning, bottling and drying techniques are used. Both canning and bottling need heavy and expensive machinery and also results in heavy and bulky items which are difficult & expensive to transport. Therefore a high demand for dehydrated food exists in the market today. Using hot air to dehydrate food is the most common method adopted in Sri Lanka. But it has some drawbacks and shortcomings which lead to low quality products. This invention relates, therefore, to a novel device which is characterized by having a method to carry out dehydration in an atmosphere of a partial vacuum and/or in lower relative humidity and/or where product is heated from inside.