Descrição da transferência de calor em produtos alimentares submetidos a processos com condição de contorno variável.

Abstract

This work aims to study the heat transfer behavior in jackfruit pulp packed in cylindrical container. The study presents the solution to the diffusion equation type boundary condition for first variable. A physical-mathematical model for solving the problem of a direct two-dimensional diffusion of heat in the interior of a cylindrical container containing jackfruit pulp has been developed. The finite volume method with fully implicit formulation was used to solve the direct problem and therefore, determine the temperature distribution. The medium viscous, homogeneous and isotropic, was considered stationary and thus any radioactive and convective exchanges within the medium they were neglected. Two software in Fortran were developed first to find the solution of the estimated thermal diffusivity problem using as objective function, the chi-square and also for solving the direct problem it self. Together, an experimental apparatus was used to analyze the reverse (inverse problem). The experimental physical system consisted of using two cylindrical aluminum containers of different dimensions, which were filled with jackfruit pulp for which the thermal diffusivity is estimated. Two thermocouples connected to a digital two channel thermometer measured temperatures at the center and at the interface between the pulp and the container. The measures were sent to a computer via RS-232 and saved in a file, through the Data Logger software. Concerning to the direct problem a two-dimensional heat conduction model with radial and axial symmetry it has been used for the transient response of the measured temperatures at the center and the cylinder contour. Compared to literature values, the results obtained were consistent, so, the software developed in this work can be considered valid and this can be used for other simulations the results. Also showed that the proposed solution represents satisfactorily the heat treatment process of wrapped jackfruit pulp in cylindrical packaging providing food security with a lower energy cost. As we know the thermal diffusivity an depending on the local temperature is possible to determine the timing of heat treatment, making it unnecessary to perform experiments each time a new cylindrical container is used to store the product.