Automatización de un Secador Convectivo de Aire Caliente para fines de Docencia en Ingeniería de Alimentos

This paper describes the design and installation of an automated experimental device applied to a parallel co-current hot air dryer to perform drying studies in the field of food engineering.The development of this work was divided into two main activities: (i) design of the automation system and (ii) validation of automatically collected data.A device capable of collecting and registering real time data and images from drying processes, and transmitting them through Internet was obtained.The data processed by the automatic device was statistically validated.It is concluded that the proposed automation device is feasible, reliable and attractive for the users, facilitating the teachinglearning process in an important area of Food Engineering.