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Abstract.

 Thermally assisted drying and decontamination (TADD) is a process used by truck wash facilities in order to ensure pathogen destruction on livestock trailers. Many of these facilities only use a single ambient temperature measurement inside of the trailer to ensure that the time and surface temperature goal for pathogen destruction is met. This method is insufficient to provide enough information about the interior surface of a trailer to ensure pathogen destruction. The research detailed in this paper used numerous thermocouple measurements and a numerical interpolation model to create visual temperature regimes of 5 different livestock trailers undergoing thermal drying cycles. It was found that most trailers have large areas that do not meet the time and temperature criteria for pathogen destruction. Additionally, contaminants left in a trailer after physical washing such as grease create an effective insulating layer which can keep the temperature of a coated area significantly cooler than the surfaces surrounding it. The use of strategically placed winter panels on trailers proved to be effective in routing hot air from TADD ovens through more of a trailer and improving the success rate of TADD cycles in meeting their temperature goal.