HEAT TRANSFER MODELLING OF ENCAPSULATED PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS FOR FOOD PACKAGING

摘要

Temperature abuses in cold chain can lead to deterioration in food quality and safety. Packaging can play anrnactive role in temperature controlling of perishable products. However, standard materials for productrnpackaging (plastic, cardboard or wood) usually have limited thermal buffering capacity. One possiblernapproach to enhance this capacity and maintain the product at a desired temperature is thermal energyrnstorage by phase change materials - PCM. In the present work, the heat transfer behaviour of a plate madernfrom encapsulated PCM (Rubitherm RT5 encapsulated in polycaprolactone PCL) was studied. The enthalpyrnmethod was chosen to model the phase transition of the PCM. The model was validated by experimentalrncooling and heating processes, under controlled air temperature conditions. The numerical resultrndemonstrated a better thermal capacitance of the encapsulated PCM material compared to a standard onern(cardboard).