Experimental data on convective drying of potato samples with different thickness.

A laboratory setup is developed to examine the characteristics of convective drying of a moist potato sample. The thickness effect (5, 10 and 15 mm) of product on heat and mass transfer during potato drying was presented. Potato samples were dried at temperature of 51 °C and air velocity of 1 m s-1 . Structural Change (length, width and thickness) of the samples were measured during drying. The heat distribution at different locations, sides surfaces and heart of the samples, was acquired at a time interval of 30 min for the test period. According to drying rate, potato drying is predominantly in the falling rate period. The moisture diffusivity data determined from experimental convective drying kinetics. The method based on the analytical solution of a fickian diffusive model has been developed to both evaluate the sample thickness effects on moisture diffusivity. Moreover, this dataset is made public in order to be used by other researchers studying the performances analysis of the drying systems.