Analysis of Radiant Heating to Produce an Alternative Frying Process
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Date
2004-11-20
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Abstract
Radiant emission from short, medium, and long wavelength thermal radiant emitter systems typically used for food processing applications were quantified. Measurements included heat flux intensity, emitter surface temperature, and spectral wavelength distribution. Heat flux measurements were found highly dependent on the incident angle and the distance from the emitter facing. The maximum flux measured was 5.4 W/cm2. Emitter surface temperature measurements showed that short wavelength radiant systems had the highest surface temperature and greatest thermal efficiency. The emitter spectral distributions showed that radiant emitter systems had large amounts of far infrared energy emission greater than 3 μm when compared to theoretical blackbody curves. The longer wavelength energy would likely cause increased surface heating for most high moisture content food materials.
The effect of finish heating method: immersion frying, oven heating or dynamic radiant heating was evaluated for texture, color, and sensory properties of par-fried French fries. Peak breaking force was highest for radiant heated French fry samples. Color analysis revealed equivalent b-value (yellowness) of crust color for immersion fried and radiant heated French fries. Sensory evaluation indicated overall acceptability of radiant heated French fries equivalent to traditional immersion fried French fried potatoes.
A numerical simulation of high intensity radiant heating was developed for a potato slab. The simulation predicted the temperature profile throughout in a one-dimensional slab during a radiant heating process. A surface crust and core region were defined and the increase in crust thickness was tracked. Measured surface and core temperatures showed excellent agreement with simulation results producing an average deviation of less than 3°C during a 15,000 and 27,000 W/m2 constant heat flux validation experiment. The simulation could be used as a tool to evaluate radiant heating of food products to simulate immersion frying and crust formation.
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Keywords
French fries, radiant heating, infrared, frying
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Degree
PhD
Discipline
Food Science
