Mikrouhinen bidez lehorturiko elikagai ereduaren portaera termikoa

Abstract

The aim of this work is to model a microwave drying process. The knowledge of temperature and mass loss evolution is very important to determine heat generation in the different microwave applications and particularly to analyze textural and quality changes in the dehydrated products derived of local overheating. A microwave drying process is described solving heat and mass balances based on finite element discretization and using a MATLAB calculus program. Sample was discretized in twenty elements according to a mathematical model that includes a heat generation term by microwaves. The experiments were made with a food model that is a mixture of a commercial carbohydrate (Tylose) and water. Sample was dried in a singlemode 2.45 GHz cavity. The model takes into account the ON-OFF power cycles and predicts acceptably the thermal changes observed and average moisture content.