Kajian Performansi Pengering Pompa Kalor untuk Pengeringan Produk Hasil Pertanian

Drying of red Chili (Capsicum annuum L.) using heat pump dryer has been done to obtain drying conditions at relatively low temperature and humidity so that the damage of the vitamin which it is contains can be reduced. The design, manufacture and testing of heat pump dryer for drying agricultural products has been done. The drying chamber is made of aluminum plate sized 500mmx500mmx500mm, insulated with rockwool wrapped in aluminum foil. Heat pump used was split air conditioner with a cooling load of 9000 Btu/hr. A test result of design and manufacturing is done by drying red Chili to look at the performance of the heat pump dryer. Studies conducted dryer performance includes the calculations of coefficient of performance (COP), Total Performance (TP),Specific Energy Consumption (SEC), Specific Moisture Extraction Rate (SMER) of heat pumps and also to know the characteristics of drying red Chili. The results were obtained: average air temperatures enter the drying chamber is 54,17°C and average of air humidity is 23.36%. COP, TP, SEC and SMER values are respectively 3.4; 8.28; 17.54 to 31.25 kWh / kg .and 0.032 to 0.057 kg / kWh. Characteristics of the drying process which is carried out showed that the energy needed for drying material red Chili halved is lower than intact red Chili