A CFD Analysis of Core Temperature for Different Durian Paste Packages Layouts during Air-Blast Freezing

Abstract

Food freezing is a process of crystallising the water particles inside the food and turning it into ice. One of the rapid freezing techniques is known as air-blast freezing. It is a process that rapidly freezes products from chilled or ambient temperature to their desired temperature instantly. SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation is utilised in this project to analyse the core temperature change for five different durian paste package layouts during the air-blast freezing. There are L1 horizontally single stacked, L2 horizontally double stacked, L3 vertically stacked, L4 fin-like stacked without gaps and L5 fin-like stacked with 3.925 mm gaps. All layouts have a fixed number of 90 durian paste packages per run to ensure consistent and accurate results. These combinations have an initial body temperature of 26°C and were simulated for 240 minutes under an air temperature of-30°C. According to the simulation results, L5 achieved the fastest freezing speed among all five layouts, with a core temperature of 26°C dropping to-20°C in 90 minutes, followed by L3 in 140 minutes, L1 in 150 minutes. Moreover, L5 gives a more evenly distributed temperature around all surfaces with a maximum core temperature after 240 minutes of freezing as it has a higher total surface area to volume ratio, which results in more surface area exposure to cool air. Therefore, L5 fin like-stacked with gaps in between has shown to have more uniform and consistent freezing and advantage in terms of freezing speed.