OPTIMAL CONTROL OF THE WATER LOSS OF FRUIT DURING STORAGE BY HEAT STRESS

Abstract

In general, lower temperature is useful to reduce the quality losses of fruit. In contrary, a short-term exposure to high temperature between 35 and 50°C allows the ripening of fruit to delay. In this study, the optimal l-step set points of temperature that minimize the water loss of the fruit were determined using a decision system consisting of neural networks and genetic algorithms and applied to a real system. In the decision system, the dynamic change in the rate of the water loss, as affected by temperature, was first identified using neural networks, and then the optimal l-step set points of temperatures that minimize the rate of the water loss were sought through simulation of the identified model using genetic algorithms. Several types of optimal values were obtained under different constraints of the temperature and evaluation lengths of the control process. Especially, a temperature operation first rising to the highest level and then dropping to the lowest level in the given range was effective to reduce the water loss than that keeping it constant at the lowest level through whole the control process.