Computational analysis of temperature distribution in microwave-heated potatoes

Abstract

This research article reports the computational analysis of temperature distribution in microwave-heated convenience food such as potato. The detailed study of temperature (because temperature is a function of bacterial inactivation) and microwave powers along with drying time for the preservation of food material has been presented. Therefore, a mathematical model for potato sample is developed to predict the behavior of temperature distribution at each possible point and different shapes (slab, cylindrical, and spherical) of food material. The developed mathematical model is programmed by MATLAB software. Another parameter, microwave power is also a function of temperature. The ranging values of various microwave powers (125 W, 375 W, 625 W, 875 W, and 1250 W) along with different values of drying time (0 to 10 minutes) have been used for computation. The obtained results show the uniformity of temperature distribution throughout the whole product in the form of a three-dimensional structure. The model provides the minimum and maximum temperature ranges in specimens without performing an experiment which depicts the condition of bacterial inactivation.