Blackbox Breadfruit Dryer

 

Client: Trees That Feed Foundation
http://www.treesthatfeed.org/

 

Location: Evanston, Illinois and Jamaica

 

Fall 2014 - Winter 2015

 

Skills: User Interaction, Product Development and Testing, Design Sketching, Art Editing, Prototyping, 

Trees that Feed Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on Jamaica and Haiti that aims to reduce hunger, create jobs and support the environment by supplying breadfruit trees and teaching local communities how to harvest and produce breadfruit flour.

 

Breadfruit flour can be used as a replacement for wheat or bread crumbs. Several farming associations in Jamaica are attempting to eventually produce large enough quantities of breadfruit to export it to the United State and Europe.

 

The Blackbox Breadfruit Dryer is a semi-permanent rectangular structure that relies only on temperature and airflow to dry breadfruit and protect from contamination. The structure will consist of pressure-treated wood frame wrapped in a flexible sheet of plastic, and a lightweight metal chimney. A solar collector made from wood and clear flexible plastic will be attached to the base of the main cylinder provide a temperature gradient in the drying structure promoting airflow through the roof. Shelves can be constructed simply by pulling mesh fabric taught around a scrap wood or metal frame.