In this paper, an attempt was made to evaluate the convective heat transfer coefficient during drying of various crops and to investigate the influences of drying air velocity and temperature on the convective heat transfer coefficient. Drying was conducted in a convective cyclone type dryer at drying air temperatures of 60, 70 and 80 degrees C and velocities of 1 and 1.5 m/s using rectangle shaped potato and apple slices (12.5 x 12.5 x 25 mm) and cylindrical shaped pumpkin slices (35 x 5 mm). The temperature changes of the dried crops and the temperature of the drying air were measured during the drying process. It was found that the values of convective heat transfer coefficient varied from crop to crop with a range 30.21406 and 20.65470 W/m(2) C for the crops studied, and it was observed that the convective heat transfer coefficient increased in large amounts with the increase of the drying air velocity but increased in small amounts with the rise of the drying air temperature. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.