An estimated 1.3 billion people in the world live without electricity [1]. Lack of electricity in developing countries limits refrigeration options, hinders industrialization, and correlates to economic instability. In Borgne, Haiti humid environmental conditions cause food to spoil at an expedited rate leading to significant waste which could otherwise provide nutritional or economic value to impoverished areas. SEE Fanm, Sante [Health], Edikasyon [Education], Ekonomi [Economy] for Fanm [Women], is a Haitian women's group focused on self empowerment of women to help lift their community from poverty. To best utilize an abundant and commonly wasted crop, the Women’s group plans to dry mangoes to create a fruit powder which could be preserved and later made into mango juice. To achieve making mango juice powder, this current project team, MSD P19483, will focus on designing a reliable, offgrid fruit dryer to be used in a process line developed by MSD P19742.

With limited access to electricity, drying mangoes in a humid climate becomes an engineering challenge for which MSD P17483 developed a prototype solar crop dryer, which is currently being used in Haiti. The current dryer is insufficiently weather resistant and inaccessible to users. Along with improving these and other functional challenges, the ideal dryer design must be adaptable to an up-scaled business model, reliably durable and transportable. Components will be designed to maximize collapsibility and availability while minimizing weight and cost. These new design considerations will enhance ease of assembly, transportation, and profitability.

A successful dryer will produce a quality product (to FDA Standards) which can be utilized by the Haitian communities for both nutritional and economic benefit. Utilizing materials and tools accessible in Haiti will be key to providing designs which are practical for rural and impoverished areas without electricity. Adequate drying ability (time and quality) will be necessary to uphold integration into the final production line, which has potential to further economic opportunities including jobs.

For an updated project description, click on the following link for the Project Readiness Package.

A list of public documents can be accessed here.

Project Name

Fruit Dryer for Developing Countries

Project Number

P19483

Start Term

2181

End Term

2185

Faculty Guide

Christian Leibfried, cvlddm@rit.edu

Primary Customer

Sarah Brownell, sabeie@rit.edu

Sponsor

Multidisciplinary Senior Design

Supplemental funding provided by a gift from Harris Corporation

Planning & Execution

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