Development of drying technology utilizing solar energy to dry agricultural and marine products

Summary form only given, as follows. Drying is a technique to process agricultural and marine products. Drying may be either by sunlight or hot gas. The author has developed a solar drying system that maintains a desirable taste.. The system uses light and heat from solar energy passing through glass. The author has developed a hybrid solar collector that can produce warm water and warm air at the same time in order to develop a solar-drying system for agricultural and marine products. The total heat collection efficiency was 74% and is a large value when the water and air flows are balanced in a corresponding manner. Furthermore, the effects of rays used to dry marine products on the changes in umami components found in such products were investigated. Results have shown that samples exposed to ultraviolet (UV-A and UV-C) rays had a higher rate of increase in amino acid content than those dried by warm air without exposure to rays with wavelengths like those of solar rays