Academy of Agriculture Journal 1: 5 (2016) 80 – 82. Contents lists available at www.innovativejournal.in ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURE JOURNAL Available online at http://innovativejournal.in/aaj/index.php/aaj Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Page 80 EVALUATION OF THE DESIGNED SHOE-TYPE SOLAR DRYER Odinah L. Cuartero Surigao Del Sur State University – Cantilan Campus, Cantilan Surigao Del Sur, Philippines, 8317 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Corresponding Author Odinah L. Cuartero Surigao Del Sur State University – Cantilan Campus, Cantilan Surigao Del Sur, Philippines, 8317 ocuartero@yahoo.com Keywords: Shoe-type solar dryer, temperature increase, rate of moisture, open-solar drying The study aimed to evaluate the designed shoe-type solar dryer. Specifically, the study determined the performance of shoe-type solar dryer in terms of temperature increase and rate of moisture removal. The performance of the designed shoe-type solar dryer was compared with the performance of open-solar drying. The result was analyzed and interpreted using percent difference and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that the performance of shoe-type solar dryer was noticeably more efficient and higher than that of an open-solar drying in terms of temperature increase and rate of moisture removal. The increased temperature in shoe-type solar dryer relevantly increased the rate of moisture removal from the produce. The study recommends different agencies in the field of agriculture, farmers and future researchers to realize the practical operational principles of shoe-type solar dryer. ©2016, AAJ, All Right Reserved INTRODUCTION Many of the third world countries produce large quantities of fruits and vegetables for local consumption and export. Agricultural crops, fruits and vegetables contain a large quantity of initial moisture content and are therefore highly susceptible to rapid quality degradation, even to the extent of spoilage, if not kept in thermally controlled storage facilities (FAO, 1999). In the Philippines, agricultural and other products have been dried by the sun and wind in the open air for thousands of years. The purpose is either to preserve them for later use. According to Sodha (1985), in open sun drying, there is a considerable loss due to various reasons such as rodents, birds, insects and micro-organisms. The unexpected rain or storm further worsens the situation. Further, over drying, insufficient drying, and contamination by foreign material like dust dirt, insects, and micro-organism as well as discoloration by UV radiation are characteristic for open sun drying. In general, open sun drying does not fulfill the international quality standards and therefore it cannot be sold in the international market. In industrialized regions and sectors, open air drying has now been largely replaced by mechanized driers, with boilers to heat incoming air, and fans to force it through at a high rate. Mechanized drying is faster than open-air drying, uses much less land and usually gives a better quality product. But the equipment is expensive and requires substantial quantities of fuel or electricity to operate (Sharman, 2008) Leon (2002) mentioned that Solar-drying technology offers an alternative ways to process the vegetables and fruits in clean, hygienic and sanitary conditions to national and international standards with zero energy costs. It saves energy, time, occupies less area, improves product quality, makes the process more efficient and protects the environment. Various solar dryers have been developed in the past for the efficient utilization of solar energy. Many studied have been reported on solar drying of agricultural products. Several studied have been done in the tropics and subtropics to develop solar dryers for agricultural products. Numerous types of solar dryers have been designed and developed in various parts of the world, yielding varying degrees of technical performance. However, there have also been unresolved issues as regard to the suitability and availability of the designed solar dryers (Fudholi, 2009). It is within the present prevailing situation that the researcher thought of designing and evaluating a solar dryer that resembles a shape of a shoe. The evaluation of shoe-type solar dryer presents a low-cost food drying technology that can be readily introduced in rural areas to reduce spoilage, improve product quality and the agricultural returns of the farmers in appreciation of the hard effort they have devoted in crop cultivation. Using public and local information culled from numerous sources, this study will identify the performance of designed shoe-type solar dryer in terms of temperature increase and rate of moisture removal. METHODOLOGY Experimental Procedure The shoe-type solar dryer has been designed, built and evaluated as shown in Figure 1. The shoe- type solar dryeris consist of a 24cm x 46cm black painted plywood frame (46 cm long x 24cm wide x 12.33 cm high).