Mathematical Modeling of Three-dimensional Heat Transfer During Food Freezing Process

Abstract

The quality of agricultural products is greatly influenced by freezing rate and temperature history during freezing process, because biological cells are injured by osmotic stress due to phase change of inner solution. A three-dimensional heat transfer model with appropriate boundary conditions is required to gain a better understanding of food freezing process. Heat transfer model was developed to predict the changes of temperature distribution during freezing process. This model is including temperature effect on thermal properties. The non-liner model was solved by using the control volume method. In order to verify this model, freezing tests were carried out using diced radish and diced carrot. Predicted freezing curves in both samples well agreed with observed results. It was concluded that the developed model was useful for freezing time and freezing rate predictions.