Microwave drying of spheres: Coupled electromagnetics-multiphase transport modeling with experimentation. Part II: Model validation and simulation results

Mechanistic and Machine Learning Modeling of Microwave Heating Process in Domestic Ovens: A Review

The domestic microwave oven has been popularly used at home in heating foods for its rapid heating rate and high power efficiency. However, non-uniform heating by microwave is the major drawback that can lead to severe food safety and quality issues. In order to alleviate this problem, modeling of microwave heating process in domestic ovens has been employed to simulate and understand the complicated interactions between microwaves and food products. This paper extensively reviews the mechanistic models with different geometric dimensions and physics/kinetics that simulated the microwave heating process. The model implementation and validation strategies related to the model accuracy and efficiency are also discussed. With the emergence of the machine learning technique, this paper also discusses the recent development of hybrid models that integrate machine learning with mechanistic models in improving microwave heating performance. Besides, pure machine learning models using only experimental data as input are also covered. Further research is needed to improve the model accuracy, efficiency, and ease of use to enable the industrial application of the models in the development of microwave systems and food products.

A fully coupled multiphase model for infrared-convective drying of sweet potato

BACKGROUND

Combined infrared (CIR) and convective drying is a promising technology in dehydrating heat-sensitive foods, such as fruits and vegetables. This novel thermal drying method, which involves the application of infrared energy and hot air during a drying process, can drastically enhance energy efficiency and improve overall product quality at the end of the process. Understanding the dynamics of what goes on inside the product during drying is important for further development, optimization, and upscaling of the drying method. In this study, a multiphase porous media model considering liquid water, gases, and solid matrix was developed for the CIR and hot-air drying (HAD) of sweet potato slices in order to capture the relevant physics and obtain an in-depth insight on the drying process. The model was simulated using Matlab with user-friendly graphical user interface for easy coupling and faster computational time.

RESULTS

The gas pressure for CIR-HAD was higher centrally and decreased gradually towards the surface of the product. This implies that drying force is stronger at the product core than at the product surface. A phase change from liquid water to vapour occurs almost immediately after the start of the drying process for CIR-HAD. The evaporation rate, as expected, was observed to increase with increased drying time. Evaporation during CIR-HAD increased with increasing distance from the centreline of the sample surface. The simulation results of water and vapour flux revealed that moisture transport around the surfaces and sides of the sample is as a result of capillary diffusion, binary diffusion, and gas pressure in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The nonuniform dominant infrared heating caused the heterogeneous distribution of product temperature. These results suggest that CIR-HAD of food occurs in a non-uniform manner with high vapour and water concentration gradient between the product core and the surface.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides in-depth insight into the physics and phase changes of food during CIR-HAD. The multiphase model has the advantage that phase change and impact of CIR-HAD operating parameters can be swiftly quantified. Such a modelling approach is thereby significant for further development and process optimization of CIR-HAD towards industrial upscaling. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Shape Effect on the Temperature Field during Microwave Heating Process

Aiming at improving the food quality during microwave process, this article mainly focused on the numerical simulation of shape effect, which was evaluated by microwave power absorption capability and temperature distribution uniformity in a single sample heated in a domestic microwave oven. This article only took the electromagnetic field and heat conduction in solid into consideration. The Maxwell equations were used to calculate the distribution of microwave electromagnetic field distribution in the microwave cavity and samples; then the electromagnetic energy was coupled as the heat source in the heat conduction process in samples. Quantitatively, the power absorption capability and temperature distribution uniformity were, respectively, described by power absorption efficiency (PAE) and the statistical variation of coefficient (COV). In addition, we defined the comprehensive evaluation coefficient (CEC) to describe the usability of a specific sample. In accordance with volume or the wave numbers and penetration numbers in the radial and axial directions of samples, they can be classified into different groups. And according to the PAE, COV, and CEC value and the specific need of microwave process, an optimal sample shape and orientation could be decided.

A Phase-Shifting Method for Improving the Heating Uniformity of Microwave Processing Materials

Microwave processing of materials has been found to deliver enormous advantages over conventional processing methods in terms of mechanical and physical properties of the materials. However, the non-uniform temperature distribution is the key problem of microwave processing, which is related to the structure of the cavity, and the placement and physical parameters of the material. In this paper, a new microwave cavity structure with a sliding short based on phase-shifting heating is creatively proposed to improve the temperature uniformity. An electronic mathematical model based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) is built to predict the temperature distribution. Meanwhile, a new computational approach based on the theory of transformation optics is first provided to solve the problem of the moving boundary in the model simulation. At first, the experiment is carried out to validate the model, and heating results from the experiment show good agreement with the model’s prediction. Based on the verified model, materials selected among a wide range of dielectric constants are treated by stationary heating and phase-shifting heating. The coefficient of variation (COV) of the temperature and temperature difference has been compared in detail between stationary heating and phase-shifting heating. A significant improvement in heating uniformity can be seen from the temperature distribution for most of the materials. Furthermore, three other materials are also treated at high temperature and the heating uniformity is also improved. Briefly, the strategy of phase-shifting heating plays a significant role in solve the problem of non-uniform heating in microwave-based material processing. A 25%–58% increase in uniformity from adapting the phase-shifting method can be observed for the microwave-processed materials.