Garlic Slice Drying Room Customer Trial Run

In the field of primary agricultural product processing, the choice of equipment often determines the upper limit of the finished product’s quality. Recently, Mr. Li, from a garlic-growing area in Hebei Province, brought a truckload of freshly sliced ​​garlic to our drying room test center. He hoped to find a solution that could both preserve the original color and flavor of the garlic slices and enable stable batch processing. After a full batch of static drying tests, Mr. Li immediately decided to order a 15-horsepower air-source heat pump drying room.

I. Customer Needs: Static Batch Processing

Mr. Li runs a small agricultural cooperative in the area, mainly receiving fresh garlic from surrounding farmers for primary processing. His previous pain points were quite typical:

Flexible Production Capacity: The fresh garlic harvest season is concentrated, but the daily delivery volume is not fixed. He needed a static drying room that could be flexibly arranged according to the daily delivery volume, capable of processing several hundred kilograms to about one ton of material at a time.

Core Quality: Mr. Li particularly emphasized that his customers mainly use the garlic as a catering ingredient and medicinal raw material, requiring extremely high standards for the color and retention of active ingredients in the garlic slices. “If the garlic slices are overcooked or over-dryed, the entire batch is ruined.”

Simple Operation: The cooperative’s workers are mostly local villagers, so the equipment must be simple and easy to learn. Once the parameters are set, no 24-hour monitoring is required.

II. Static Drying Process for Garlic Slices
To meet Mr. Li’s needs, we provided him with a 10-square-meter polyurethane insulated drying room, equipped with a 15-horsepower air-source heat pump dryer, and designed dedicated trolleys and trays. Fresh garlic slices are evenly spread 3-4 cm thick on each tray.

Full Record of the Drying Process:

Loading into the Room: After washing, slicing, and dehydration, one ton of fresh garlic slices is evenly spread on 36 trays and placed into the drying room. The material preparation process is clean and efficient.

Precise Temperature and Humidity Control:

First Stage: Color and Shape Setting (First 3 Hours). The set temperature is 65℃, using a high-volume internal circulation + micro-humidification. The first stage involves not opening large windows for dehumidification. The purpose is to rapidly heat the surface of the garlic slices, deactivating oxidase activity, locking in their milky white color, and preventing darkening.

The second stage: Constant temperature dehumidification (mid-stage, 6-8 hours). The temperature is controlled at 60℃. At this stage, the strong dehumidification mode is activated to quickly expel the concentrated moisture evaporated from the garlic slices. Through the observation window, you can see water droplets clinging to the walls, and white steam billowing from the dehumidification pipes.

The third stage: Slow drying (final stage, 3 hours). The temperature drops to 55℃, and the heat pump is intermittently started and stopped, using residual heat to “force” out the last remaining moisture from the garlic slices, ensuring they are thoroughly dry without scorching.

Static advantages: Throughout the process, the material remains stationary, avoiding breakage and loss caused by mechanical turning. The tray design ensures that each garlic slice receives equal exposure to hot air, resulting in extremely uniform drying.

After approximately 12-14 hours of patient baking (depending on the specific ambient temperature), this batch of garlic slices reaches the ideal dryness state.

III. Customer Testimonials

Mr. Li picked up a handful of garlic slices and examined them against the sunlight: “To be honest, I was worried that the bottom two layers, being close to the heat source during static drying, would easily become darker. But now, they’re almost the same color from top to bottom, a milky white with a hint of translucency. It’s so much better than sun-drying them; sun-drying them for three days might result in mold if it’s cloudy.”