Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity of Unfrozen and Frozen Food Materials by a Steady State Method with Coaxial Dual-cylinder Apparatus.

Abstract

Coaxial dual-cylinder apparatus was used to measure the effective thermal conductivity of aqueous solutions of glucose, sucrose, gelatin and egg albumin over a temperature range from -20° to 20°C by the steady state method. The accuracy of the apparatus was confirmed by testing with water and ice. The effective thermal conductivity decreased with an increase in the total solid content in both the frozen and unfrozen states. In the unfrozen state, the effective thermal conductivity was slightly dependent on temperature. In the frozen state, however, the effective thermal conductivity was strongly dependent on temperature; lower temperatures gave higher effective thermal conductivity, reflecting the increase in the ice fration. For the unfrozen samples, the intrinsic thermal conductivity of each solid component was calculated by heat transfer models. All the models tested, series, parallel and Maxwell-Eucken, were equally applicable to describe the heat conduction in the unfrozen state. In the frozen state, however, the strong temperature dependency of the effective thermal conductivity suggests that the effect of the temperature dependency of the ice fraction should be incorporated into theoretical models.