Experimental analysis of the hydrofluidisation freezing system for small fruits and vegetables

摘要

In this work, an experimental analysis of the hydrofluidisation freezing system for small fruits orvegetables is presented. The analysis was focused on the fluid flow measurements around thespherical samples inside the hydrofluidisation chamber as well as the thermal measurements of theprocess. The measurements were performed on the experimental rig designed at the Institute ofThermal Technology, Gliwice, Poland. That test stand is equipped with the precise mass flow meters,thermocouples and pressure sensors. The walls of the hydrofluidisation chamber are transparent tovisualise the fluid flow around the investigated sample. To capture the fluid flow, the PIV system wasused. The experiments were conducted for various configurations of the orifice and sample positions.The gathered results were used for the evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient and the freezingtime analysis as well as the developed CFD model validation. Finally, the recommendations for theHF system performance improvement were formulated.