Industrial Food Tray Dryer Manufacturers

Tray dryers — design and applications

A tray dryer (also called a cabinet dryer or hot air oven dryer) is a batch drying machine in which the product is spread in a thin layer on shallow mesh or perforated trays, and the trays are loaded into an insulated cabinet through which heated air circulates. A fan forces air across the trays; the air picks up moisture from the product and is exhausted or recirculated (with partial exhaust to remove moisture). Tray dryers are one of the most versatile and widely used batch drying methods in food processing: suitable for a wide range of products (sliced fruit and vegetables, whole spices, herbs, fish, meat pieces, grain samples); simple to operate and clean; capable of drying different products with only a change of trays between batches; relatively low capital cost; and easy to scale from small pilot quantities to full commercial production by increasing the number of trays and cabinet size. The main limitations are labour intensity (loading and unloading trays) and lower throughput per unit floor area compared to continuous belt dryers.