Effect of moisture content and temperature on thermal conductivity of Psidium guajava L. by line heat source method (transient analysis)

Thermal conductivity (K) of Psidium guajava L. (guava fruit) cultivar (Rayalaseema area, AP, India) is one of the fundamental importance to establish the design of process equipment. A study on effect of moisture content (MC) and temperature on thermal conductivity (K) of guava fruit are presented. The thermal conductivity is evaluated by transient technique using line heat source method for various MC ranging from 80% to 40% (wb) at two different densities. The analysis reveals that the thermal conductivity of guava fruit increased with increase in moisture content and temperature in the range of 0.1526 to 0.6037 W/m °C. The experimental values were compared with standard (Sweat and Anderson) models and were found in good agreement.