Stabilizing Temperature and Humidity in a Cocoa Bean Dryer Using Fuzzy Logic

The objective of this research is to develop a cocoa seed drying device. The proposed research utilizes the thermal energy emitted by a light bulb as the heat source. The purpose is to replace the solar heat used in the traditional cocoa drying method. The device is set at temperatures of 45°C, 50°C, and 55°C to get the requirements target. The water content of cocoa seeds is approximately 68% at the beginning, and upon complete drying, the water content of fully dried cocoa seeds will vary between 7% and 7.5%. In prior studies, the experimental conditions involved subjecting the system to a temperature of 50°C for 14 hours. Additionally, when the temperature was increased to 55°C, an overshoot of 10.18% was observed. This phenomenon persists due to reliance on sunlight as the predominant heat source. This study uses a fuzzy logic method to control temperature and humidity at the desired setpoint. The results show that temperatures of 45°C, 50°C, and 55°C exhibit rise times of 405 seconds, 1,294 seconds, and 1,732 seconds, correspondingly. The recorded overshoots for the three trials were 0.11%, 0.39%, and 0.19%, respectively. The duration required for the drying process of cocoa seeds was measured to be 14.35 hours, 11.23 hours, and 6.65 hours, respectively. In contrast to prior investigations, the duration required for a reaction at a temperature of 50°C is 14 hours, while at a temperature of 55°C, an overshoot of 10.18% is seen. Our work has improved the performance of the cocoa bean dryer by reducing overshoots and accelerated drying durations.