Abstract:The performance of a solar tent dryer equipped with a solar chimney, as against that of open sun drying, was examined in the drying of cassava. An initial no-load trial was done, followed by trials with the dryer loaded with cassava. One drying trial was performed with the crops on the lower shelf, another with the crops on the upper shelf and a third trial with the dryer loaded on both the lower and upper shelves. In each drying trial, some cassava were also dried in the open sun which results were compared to that of the dryer. In the no-load process, the temperature inside the dryer increased with height due to thermo-syphon effects. But this trend was distorted by the evaporation of moisture from the crops during the drying processes, especially at the initial stages. About 75% to 80% of the drying process occurred within the first two days and nights of the drying periods. The open-sun drying was faster at the initial stages of drying, especially when the crops were on the lower shelf or the dryer was fully loaded. But the performance of the dryer overtook that of the open sun drying at later stages of drying. Thus, the dryer started more slowly but finished earlier than the open-sun drying. The best drying performance was observed when the crops were high up the dryer, though only a small amount of crops could be allowed at this height due to the design of the dryer.