HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS IN HYDROCOOLING OF SPHERICAL AND CYLINDRICAL FOOD-PRODUCTS

We present simple and accurate models to determine the heat-transfer coefficients for both spherically and cylindrically shaped food products, namely, tomatoes, pears, cucumbers, and squashes exposed to hydrocooling (water-cooling) experiments at different water temperatures. The effective process parameters such as the cooling coefficient and lag factor, as well as the product properties, have been incorporated into the models. Although this approach has been applied only to spherical and cylindrical food products, it may easily be extended to food products with other shapes.