Optimal boundary control of a contact thawing process for foodstuff

In this work an approach for thawing blocks of foodstuff, in particular fish, is introduced. The functional principle is based on plate freezer technology, which has been used in industry for decades. The aim of this work is to describe the temperature dynamics of this thawing process by means of partial differential equations (PDEs) and control the boundary conditions in an optimal way. The PDE describing the temperature dynamics is based on the diffusion equation with state-dependent parameter functions.