Now crops can be dried even duringthe night with the help of a solardryer that can store heat in a specialrock bed unit. The solar dryer consists of a solar collector, a rock bedheat storage unit, a drying chamberand a chimney. Part of the heat collected by the solar collector is usedto heat rock pebbles fitted in theenergy storage unit. The heated pebbles are used after sunset for dryingoperations. The dryer is suitable fordrying agricultural products such aspaddy, cereals and coconut (VatisUpdate, Vol 2, No 17).