HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS FOR SLAB SHAPED PRODUCTS SUBJECTED TO HEATING

An analytical model was obtained to determine heat transfer coefficients for slab shaped food products heated in a convection oven. The variation of the center temperature of the products was measured and converted into dimensionless form. Using the dimensionless temperature values in the present model, the variation of the heat transfer coefficient for an individual slab product was determined. The present model involved the lumped capacitance method considering the Biot number less than 0.1. In addition, the estimated heat transfer coefficient values were compared with the predictions from the Nusselt-Reynolds correlation.