AN EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR ANALYZING PRECOOLING PROCESS PARAMETERS

An investigation of the precooling process parameters of the individual fruits (tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, and eggplants) in the batches of 5, 10, 15, and 20 kg subjected to hydrocooling is presented. Experimentally measured centre temperatures of the fruits were used in the analysis, which was based on the unsteady-state heat transfer, and the process parameters were determined. As a result, the precooling process parameters in terms of the cooling coefficient, lag factor, and half cooling time were found to be dependent upon the batch weight of the product. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the present method to determine precooling process parameters with a reasonable accuracy.