In order to determine the energy needed to artificially dry a product, the latent heat of vaporization of moisture in the product, hfg, must be known. Generally, the expressions for hfg reported in the literature are ...In order to determine the energy needed to artificially dry a product, the latent heat of vaporization of moisture in the product, hfg, must be known. Generally, the expressions for hfg reported in the literature are of the form hfg = h(T)f(M), where h(T) is the latent heat of vaporization of free water, and f(M) is a function of the equilibrium moisture content, M. But expressions of this type contain a simplification because, in this case, the ratio hfg/h would only depend to the moisture content. In this article a more general expression for the latent heat of vaporization, namely hfg = g(M,T), is used to determine hfg for banana. To this end, a computer program was developed which fits automatically about 500 functions, with one or two independent variables, imbedded in its library to experimental data. The program uses nonlinear regression, and classifies the best functions according to the least reduced chi-square. A set of executed statistical tests shows that the generalized expression used in this work given by hfg = g(M,T) produces better results of hfg for bananas than other equations found in the literature.展开更多
This article compares diffusion models used to describe seedless grape drying at low temperature. The models were analyzed, assuming the following characteristics of the drying process: boundary conditions of the firs...This article compares diffusion models used to describe seedless grape drying at low temperature. The models were analyzed, assuming the following characteristics of the drying process: boundary conditions of the first and the third kind;constant and variable volume, V;constant and variable effective mass diffusivity, D;constant convective mass transfer coefficient, h. Solutions of the diffusion equation (analytical and numerical) were used to determine D and h for experimental data of seedless grape drying. Comparison of simulations of drying kinetics indicates that the best model should consider: 1) shrinkage;2) convective boundary condition;3) variable effective mass diffusivity. For the analyzed experimental dataset, the best function to represent the effective mass diffusivity is a hyperbolic cosine. In this case, the statistical indicators of the simulation can be considered excellent (the determination coefficient is R2 = 0.9999 and the chi-square is χ2 = 3.241 × 10–4).展开更多
文摘In order to determine the energy needed to artificially dry a product, the latent heat of vaporization of moisture in the product, hfg, must be known. Generally, the expressions for hfg reported in the literature are of the form hfg = h(T)f(M), where h(T) is the latent heat of vaporization of free water, and f(M) is a function of the equilibrium moisture content, M. But expressions of this type contain a simplification because, in this case, the ratio hfg/h would only depend to the moisture content. In this article a more general expression for the latent heat of vaporization, namely hfg = g(M,T), is used to determine hfg for banana. To this end, a computer program was developed which fits automatically about 500 functions, with one or two independent variables, imbedded in its library to experimental data. The program uses nonlinear regression, and classifies the best functions according to the least reduced chi-square. A set of executed statistical tests shows that the generalized expression used in this work given by hfg = g(M,T) produces better results of hfg for bananas than other equations found in the literature.
文摘This article compares diffusion models used to describe seedless grape drying at low temperature. The models were analyzed, assuming the following characteristics of the drying process: boundary conditions of the first and the third kind;constant and variable volume, V;constant and variable effective mass diffusivity, D;constant convective mass transfer coefficient, h. Solutions of the diffusion equation (analytical and numerical) were used to determine D and h for experimental data of seedless grape drying. Comparison of simulations of drying kinetics indicates that the best model should consider: 1) shrinkage;2) convective boundary condition;3) variable effective mass diffusivity. For the analyzed experimental dataset, the best function to represent the effective mass diffusivity is a hyperbolic cosine. In this case, the statistical indicators of the simulation can be considered excellent (the determination coefficient is R2 = 0.9999 and the chi-square is χ2 = 3.241 × 10–4).