Dynamic Heat Transfer Model of Refrigerated Foodstuff

Traditional control of commercial refrigeration systems focus on controlling the air temperature inside refrigerated display cabinets. It is the product temperature that directly influences the product quality, so if we want to store the foodstuff with an optimal quality, we need to know their temperature relation.
This paper discusses the dynamic heat transfer model of foodstuff inside the display cabinet, one-dimensional dynamic model is developed, and the Explicit Finite Difference Method is applied, to handle the unsteady heat transfer problem with phase change, as well as time varying boundary condition. The influence of different factors such as air velocity, type of food, size of food, or food package are investigated, the question such as what kind of food are more sensitive to the surrounding temperature change is answered. This model can serve as a prerequisite for modelling of food quality changes, thus enabling the possibility of improving the control of supermarkets refrigeration system.