Modeling the thawing of frozen foods using air impingement technology

With the continual growth in the use of frozen foods both in retail and in food service, there is a need to develop improved thawing methods. Current methods are often undesirably slow (still air) or are very expensive and cause uneven thawing (microwave). Air impingement technology is one possible method to improve the thawing of frozen foods. The objectives of this research were to develop a two-dimensional model for air impingement thawing frozen foods and to verify the model experimentally. Frozen products were thawed using a laboratory impingement system with a single impingement jet. A simulated meat product (Tylose gel) was used as the test material. Thawing of a Tylose disk (12.7 cm diameter, 1.98 cm thickness) with air at 6 °C without impingement required more than 12 h, while thawing under a single impingement jet took less than 3 h, over four times faster. Results from the finite difference model gave good agreement with experimental data. Moisture loss during thawing was typically over-predicted because moisture gain due to condensation was not modeled.     

Thawing and freezing of selected meat products in household refrigerators

Recently, several manufacturers of domestic refrigerators have introduced models with “quick thaw” and “quick freeze” capabilities. In this study, the time required for freezing and thawing different meat products was determined for five different models of household refrigerators. Two refrigerators had “quick thaw” compartments and three refrigerators had “quick freeze” capabilities. It was found that some refrigerator models froze and thawed foods significantly faster than others (P<0.05). The refrigerators with the fastest freezing and thawing times were found to be those with “quick thaw” and “quick freeze” capabilities. Heat transfer coefficients ranged from 8 to 15 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ during freezing, and the overall heat transfer coefficients ranged from 5 to 7 Wm⁻² K⁻¹ during thawing. Mathematical predictions for freezing and thawing time in the refrigerators gave results similar to those obtained in experiments. With the results described, manufacturers can improve their design of refrigerators with quick thawing and freezing functions.     

High pressure freezing and thawing of foods: a review

The phase diagram of water shows that the melting temperature of water decreases with pressure down to −21°C at 210 MPa while the opposite effect is observed above this pressure. This phenomenon allows the achievement of rapid freezing and thawing of foods that mainly contain water. In addition, pressure-assisted thawing has the advantage of inducing a reduction in drip loss which tends to be a function of process parameters and nature of the product. Concerning pressure shift freezing, this process permits the significant preservation of the microstructure of biological substances. The current status of high pressure freezing and thawing applications in foods is reviewed in this paper. Concepts and principles underlying the application of these technologies are firstly developed. Available literature on the applications of high pressure freezing and thawing is then presented and discussed. Finally, the modelling aspects of theses processes are dealt with.     

Process design data for prok chilling

In 1993 legislation is being enacted throughout the European Community (EC) that will require the maximum temperature of pork carcasses to be below 7°C before cutting or transportation. Results from a survey of UK abattoirs are summarized to highlight the problems and inadequacies of current commercial chilling systems. Design data are presented for conventional pork-chilling systems, which detail the effects of air temperature, air velocity and carcass weight on chilling times. Four novel or modified chilling systems are discussed: ultra-rapid chilling with air at −30°C; immersion chilling in brine at 0°C; ice-bank chilling in humid air at 2°C; and spray chilling in two stages, at 10°C for 2 h followed by 4°C for 21 h. The potential of such systems for the acceleration of chilling rates and for substantial weight savings is identified.     

Measurements of the air flow field in the freezer compartment of a top-mount no-frost refrigerator: the effect of temperature

The energy consumption of a household refrigerator is closely related to the distributions of temperature inside its compartments. Since, such distributions are dependent on the chilled air circulating inside the refrigerator, its energy consumption can be reduced and its efficiency improved through optimization of the air flow fields inside the compartments. In this work, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure velocity fields inside the freezer compartment of a commercial top-mount no-frost refrigerator at two critical vertical sections at three different temperatures levels. To perform the tests, a commercial unit was equipped with two specially constructed insulated windows which enabled clear visualization of the flow field under real operating conditions. The results show that significant changes in the air flow distribution occur when the temperature is reduced.     

Influence of mist-chilling on post-harvest quality of fresh strawberries Cv. Mara des Bois and Gariguette

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of mist-chilling on high-grade strawberry post-harvest quality (Cultivars “Gariguette” and “Mara des Bois”). Strawberries were chilled at 2 °C using three processes: air blast chilling at 0.3 m s⁻¹ or 1 m s⁻¹ and mist-chilling at 1 m s⁻¹. After chilling, fruits were submitted to different distribution chains characterised by different handling conditions and storage temperatures (2 °C or 7 °C) and by a 12 h retailing step at 20 °C. Strawberry quality was assessed by measuring 7 parameters: weight loss, commercial loss, firmness, sugar content, acidity, colour and sensory quality. Compared to air-chilling, mist-chilling did not reduce chilling time but it reduced weight loss by 20–40%. Mist-chilling had no detrimental effect on commercial loss defined as the percentage of fruit more than 1/3 of surface affected. It did not induce any major changes on strawberry quality. Temperature fluctuations undergone during cold storage and retailing had a detrimental effect on weight loss. The beneficial effect of packaging on weight loss was confirmed.     

Prediction of thawing times for foods of simple shape

A set of 104 experimental measurements of thawing time were made over a wide range of conditions for slab, infinite cylinder and sphere shapes of a food analogue material. These results were used to assess existing thawing time prediction methods. Versions of both the finite difference and the finite element numerical methods that accounted for continuously temperature-variable thermal properties gave accurate predictions. No previously published simple prediction formula was found that was both sufficiently accurate and expressed in a form suitable for it to be adopted as a general thawing time prediction method. Four accurate, but simple, empirical formulae based on Plank's equation were developed. These formulae predicted thawing times that were both highly correlated with those predicted by the numerical methods and agreed with the experimental data to within ±10% at the 95% level of confidence. The agreement was more limited by uncertainties in the experimental and thermal property data than by inaccuracy in the prediction formulae. Significantly more accurate simple formulae are unlikely to be developed unless more accurate experimental data are available.     

不同解冻方式对金枪鱼肉品质的影响

目的 探究不同解冻方式(盐水解冻、水浴解冻、流水解冻、超声解冻、低温解冻)对金枪鱼品质的影响。方法 通过分析金枪鱼肉不同解冻方式的解冻时间、保水性(蒸煮损失率、解冻损失率、持水力)、pH、菌落总数、TVB-N和感官评定。结果 低温解冻的鱼肉有着较好的保水性和色泽,但是解冻时间最长。超声解冻和流水相较于其他解冻方式,解冻时间有着显著减少(P＜0.05)。其中超声解冻后鱼肉品质明显优于流水解冻后鱼肉品质,解冻后的鱼肉菌落总数(3.73 lg(CFU/g))和挥发性盐基氮含量(6.18 mg/100 g)显著低于流水解冻。结论 超声解冻是一种较好的金枪鱼肉解冻方式。     

Measuring the convective heat transfer coefficient while chilling carcasses

The importance of the heat transfer coefficient when chilling carcasses justifies its re-examination and work to its magnitude and variation. While the air velocity at the surface of carcass (with its rather irregular configuration) is an elusive quantity, the author demonstrates that the measurement of the transfer coefficient and its variation should be based on the rate of air flow over unit mass of carcass and on the rate of weight loss through evaporation.     

Prediction of freezing and thawing times for multi-dimensional shapes by simple formulae Part 1: regular shapes

Numerical prediction methods were used to generate data to assess and develop geometric factors taking account of the effect of product geometry on freezing and thawing time. Improved empirical formulae for two existing geometric factors were developed; these depend only on the Biot number and parameters that describe object shape. The new formulae are accurate for both freezing and thawing of an extended range of regular multi-dimensional shapes and for a wider range of conditions than the original formulae. Used in conjunction with accurate slab freezing and thawing time prediction formulae, the improved geometric factors accurately predicted a large set of experimental freezing and thawing times for various shapes. As the improved geometric factors are both accurate and generally applicable there is no need for shape-specific freezing and thawing time prediction formulae to be developed.     

The primary chilling of poultry carcasses—a review

This paper reviews the published scientific studies that have been carried out on the chilling of poultry carcasses. The prime purpose of chilling is to limit the growth of both pathogenic and food spoilage microorganisms. There are a wide range of publications that show that, in general, the numbers of both types of microorganism, on the surface of poultry carcasses, is reduced during the chilling process. Immersion or spin chilling is not used in the production of ‘fresh’ chilled poultry in Europe, ‘dry’ air chilling being the preferred chilling method. Many people believe that there is some clear microbiologically based reason behind the selection of air chilling. However, the published data do not appear to support this belief, and if anything point to a microbial advantage of immersion systems. The rate of chilling has some influence on the taste, texture and appearance of poultry meat. Very rapid chilling can result in tougher chicken meat, while very slow chilling can produce pale soft exudative (PSE) muscle. However, in both cases the effect is not as marked as with red meat. No comprehensive published data has been found on the effect of a range of chilling systems, chilling conditions, carcass weight and shape on the rate of chilling, weight loss and heat loss. Without such data it is impossible to optimise the design of a poultry chilling system.     

Theoretical and experimental freezing times of strawberries

Strawberries were frozen at different air velocities in an air blast freezer at −30°C. The freezing time was taken as the time required to lower the temperature at the geometric centre of the samples to −10°C. The freezing times measured in the experiments were compared with the values calculated using Plank's equation. The freezing times calculated by Plank's equation were fround to be higher than those found experimentally at any given air velocity. Freezing time decreased with increasing air velocity. This is attributed to the increase in heat transfer coefficient at increased air velocities.     

Prediction of freezing and thawing times for multi-dimensional shapes by numerical methods

Testing the accuracy of freezing and thawing time prediction methods requires accurate experimental data. To complement existing data, 175 experimental measurements, 68 for thawing of rectangular bricks and 107 for both freezing and thawing of 12 different multi-dimensional irregular shapes, were made using Tylose, a food analogue, over a wide range of conditions. Twelve additional experiments were conducted using an actual food material, minched lean beef. Details of all the experimental conditions are reported.     

Modelling the chilling of the leg, loin and shoulder of beef carcasses using an evolutionary method

An evolutionary algorithm was used to adjust unknown parameters during the beef cooling process. These parameters are the equivalent diameter and the initial temperature profile, which are difficult to estimate given the irregular geometry, the elapsed time after slaughter and variations in both the air temperature and velocity. The adjusted parameters produced accurate predictions of the center and surface temperature profiles of the leg, loin and shoulder. The adjusted dimensions agreed very well with the measured carcass dimensions. Empirical equations were obtained to correlate this diameter with the weight and fat grade of beef carcasses.     

Experimental study on a new internally cooled/heated dehumidifier/regenerator of liquid desiccant systems

For providing good performance of dehumidifier and regenerator with certain dimensions, a new type of internally cooled/heated dehumidifier/regenerator based on the plate–fin heat exchanger (PFHE) was designed. To investigate the behavior of the new equipment, an experimental setup was established in an environment chamber with regulable temperature and humidity air. By the internally cooled dehumidification testing, effects of the cooling water temperature, the air flow rate and the desiccant temperature on the dehumidification performance and the cooling efficiency were presented. The behavior of internally cooled dehumidification process was compared with that of the adiabatic dehumidification process. The results suggested that the cooling efficiency decreased with the increasing of the cooling water temperature and desiccant with low temperature could bring more mass transfer coefficients. There is an optimal air flow rate to achieve the maximum absolute humidity decrease of the air. By the internally heated regeneration testing, effects of the air flow rate and the desiccant inlet temperature on the regeneration performance and air outlet parameters were discussed and also compared with those of the adiabatic regeneration process. It was concluded that the regeneration efficiency of internally heated regeneration was more than that of the adiabatic regeneration, and the internally heated regenerator could offer better thermal performance.     

Prediction of freezing and thawing times for multi-dimensional shapes by simple formulae part 2: irregular shapes

Calculated and experimental data for multi-dimensional irregular shapes wer used to assess various methodologies to include the effect of shape in empirical freezing and thawing time prediction methods. The principles underlying two existing geometric factors, EHTD and MCP, were found to be valid; so there seems to be no need for other approaches. Used in conjunction with accurate slab freezing and thawing time prediction methods, the proposed empirical formulae for EHTD and MCP gave accurate predictions for all of the two-dimensional shapes and most of the three-dimensional shapes tested, except those with oval cross-sections in the third dimension. This was attributed to the lack of data for this group of shapes.     

A computational fluid dynamic model of the heat and moisture transfer during beef chilling

The unsteady heat and mass transfer process during beef carcass chilling was modelled for a three-dimensional beef carcass geometry. A three-step method was used to simulate the simultaneous heat and mass transfer process in order to reduce the computational time. In the first step, a steady state simulation of the flow field was conducted. In the second step, the local heat and mass transfer coefficients were calculated. Finally, the third step consists of the simultaneous heat and mass transfer process simulation on the meat carcass only. A separate 1-D grid was used to calculate the moisture diffusion in the meat. The simulation of a 20-h chilling run takes 5 days on a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 computer. The model allows calculating and predicting the heat load, temperatures, weight loss and water activity. Local variations in the heat and mass transfer coefficients, temperature and water activity were found around the beef carcass. The CFD model gives temperature predictions that agree with experimental data better than any previous model. The weight loss tends to be over-predicted probably due to neglecting the resistance caused by the fat cover.     

The effect of radiation shields around the air condenser and compressor of a refrigerator on the temperature distribution inside it

In almost all domestic refrigerators–freezers all components are assembled in the same relative position since several years ago. It is also known that the condenser releases heat at high temperatures (first law of thermodynamics) as well as the compressor. This heat is rejected to the environment in almost all practical situations partially by natural air convection. However, part of it is due to thermal radiation that causes an overheating of the refrigerator–freezer surfaces adjacent to those equipments. As a consequence there are more heat gains to the refrigerator–freezer through these surfaces and hence higher air temperatures inside. This paper describes how a simple technique can be very useful in order to minimize that part of heat transfer by radiation. The improvement is achieved by placing a radiation shield – a sheet of aluminium foil – over the surfaces close to the condenser and the compressor. For validating this technique a refrigerator–freezer was monitored with thermocouples for the measurements of the inside air temperatures in two situations: with and without the radiation shield. Results show that with this practice the average inside air temperatures in the refrigerator–freezer could decrease to about 2 K. An available commercial code was used in order to simulate the air temperature distribution and air velocities inside the refrigerator cabinet in both situations. Results from the experimental apparatus and from simulations show that there is a good agreement between them which validates the experiments carried out.Also an available commercial code, the Fluent, was used to simulate the internal air temperature in both situations.     

CFD evaluating the influence of airflow on the thermocouple-measured temperature data during air-blasting chilling

A numerical investigation using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is carried out to examine the influence of airflow on the thermocouple-measured temperature during air-blast chilling. A CFD model is developed to predict the temperature distribution and weight loss of the foods with and without the presence of thermocouples; the simulated temperature data are compared with experimental results. The comparison shows significant differences in the temperature results, especially near the surface of the foods being chilled. The study demonstrates that the temperature error depends not only on the length of the thermocouple remaining outside the product, but also the depth of the thermocouple inserted into the product. This study reveals a hidden source of experimental error and may help process engineers to better understand the phenomenon, and to correctly evaluate and examine their experimental and/or simulated temperature results for the air-blast chilling process.     

Low- and high-temperature vitrification as a new approach to biostabilization of reproductive and progenitor cells

Cells held in a liquid milieu undergo processes that cause progressive loss of viability. To prevent such degradation, cells need to be placed in conditions that essentially stop all chemical reactions for the duration of the time of storage. Because intracellular ice formation is lethal to most eukaryotic cells, stable storage of viable cells can be achieved only if intracellular vitrification without ice formation has occurred. This has been done by several methods, including equilibrium (slow) freezing, lyophilization (freeze-drying), and ice-free vitrification at subzero temperatures at moderate-to high cooling rates in the presence of cryoprotectants (‘conventional’ vitrification). In this paper, we discuss the mechanisms of vitrification, and specific aspects, advantages, and pitfalls of the different approaches. Particular emphasis is put on novel methods of cell preservation, such as cryoprotectant-free vitrification of sperm and high temperature vitrification by air/vacuum drying of progenitor and other nucleated cells.