Aligarh: The Indian Patent Office has patented a novel idea of a fully automatic vacuum dryer with a data recorder, under Patent Number 475214, filed by Dr. Faizan Ahmad, Assistant Professor and Professor Sadaf Zaidi, Department of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology in Aligarh Muslim University.

Dr. Ahmad and Prof Zaidi invented and developed the dryer as part of Dr. Faizan’s Ph.D. work under the supervision of Prof Zaidi, with unique features of providing continuous and effective drying, improving the quality of dried product, reducing human effort, and minimizing the experimental error.

Dr. Ahmad said that the fully automatic vacuum dryer can be used for drying fruits and vegetables in three modes – in vacuum mode only vacuum with hot air mode or simply in hot air mode without any change in its design.

Prof. ZR Azaz Ahmad Azad, Chairman, the Department of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, congratulated Dr. Faizan and Prof. Sadaf for their achievement and said it is the first-ever patent granted to any faculty member of the department.