DETERMINATION OF HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS FOR CYLINDRICAL PRODUCTS EXPOSED TO FORCED-AIR COOLING

An analytical model for estimation of transient heat transfer coefficients in forced-air precooling experiments of cylindrically shaped grapes, using a lumped capacitance approach were addressed and investigated. In order to determine transient heat transfer coefficients, the centre transient temperature measurements during forced-air precooling were used. Experiments involved cooling individual grapes in air flow without water losses. The individual grapes were instrumented with several interior thermocouples for measuring the centre transient temperature response during cooling. The transient values of the heat transfer coefficient history for five different air velocities were found to be about 21-40 W/m(2) K. These values were in good agreement with the values predicted using well-known Nusselt-Reynolds empirical correlation for forced convection. The present technique has the capability of determining transient heat transfer coefficients in a single transient experiment.