Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.


If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Modeling of the Heat Transfer in Food Products Cooked with Far Infrared Radiation

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  026044,  2002 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.9761) @2002
Authors:   Dr. Nicholas Shilton, Ms. Heather Carnahan, Ms. Julianne Forman, Ms. Sara Fermanian, Dr Kumar Mallikarjunan, Dr David Vaughan
Keywords:   Food, Cook, Infrared radiation, Heat transfer, Models

The use of far infrared radiation is a novel cooking technology, and has been shown to reduce the energy consumption during cooking of beef patties when compared to conventional broiling. It has also been shown that other products such as green peppers and pita bread can be cooked successfully using far infrared radiation as compared to conventionally broiled samples. The aim of this paper is to describe a mathematical model for the heat transfer occurring during the cooking of food products such as green peppers and pita bread.

Green peppers and pita breads were obtained from a local supermarket, and were cooked using a far infrared grill. Green peppers were sliced into quarters along the longitudinal axis, and were cooked with the outer skin towards the heating surface, whereas the pita breads were cooked by exposing both sides to the heating surface for an equal period of time. Thermocouples were placed in the center of each of the products and the temperature rise was recorded using a data logger. In order to assess the efficiency of the cooking process, samples were also cooked using a conventional broiler.

Heat transfer was simulated using a finite difference model. The geometry was assumed to be an infinite slab, and was solved for one dimensional heat transfer. The effect of turning of the pita bread was simulated.

The far infrared grill successfully cooked the two products, as the end point temperature in all cases was equal to that of the broiled samples. The model successfully predicted the heat transfer profiles for both the green peppers and the pita bread, with an excellent statistical correlation observed. In conclusion, far infrared radiation can be successfully applied to different food products, and the cooking process lends itself to simple simulation and prediction.

(Download PDF)    (Export to EndNotes)