Free and Forced Air Precooling of Perishable Food Products: Experimental Investigation

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been performed in order to compare the thermo-physical properties of spherical and cylindrical shaped food products during forced and free convection cooling. The specific heat capacity increases with the increment in the percentage of moisture quantity as in cucumber, it was 96% and in banana, it was 74%. The thermal conductivity of cucumber was found to be 18.7%, 7.6%, 5.1% more than that of banana, orange, capsicum respectively in case of free convection cooling but it was 18.7%, 7.8%, 5.3% more than that of banana, orange, capsicum respectively in case of forced convection cooling. In free convection cooling, the value of thermal diffusivity of cucumber was noted to be 9.02%, 2.96%, 3.85% more than that of banana, orange, capsicum respectively while in case of forced convection cooling, it was 76.06%, 62.62%, 20.19% more than that of banana, orange, capsicum respectively.