Mathematical approaches for use of analytical solutions in experimental determination of heat and mass transfer parameters

Heat (heat transfer coefficient and thermal diffusivity values) and mass (mass transfer coefficient and diffusion coefficient values) transfer parameters are crucially important for characterization and modeling of food processing operations. Since they are important function and property of interested material and medium itself, experimental determination of these values would be valuable. Analytical solutions for regular geometries (infinite slab, infinite cylinder and sphere) have a broad use in experimentally determining these parameters. These solutions, with use of experimental data, might give a greater advantage over use of other methods, e.g. the lumped system approach or empirical equations. Effective use of numerical solution techniques with experimental data would enable simultaneous determination of the related parameters with the experimental data. The experimental data and the analytical solutions may also be used to determine the thermocouple locations to use in the model validation studies. This technique would be much faster and easier compared to the other methods used for this objective.