JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING, cilt.44, sa.12, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, the change in the temperature and moisture content of zucchini cooked in microwave and infrared combination oven were modeled by finite element method. The exact form of Lambert law was used to predict the microwave power. Experimental temperature data at different positions of zucchini and moisture content data were used to verify the models obtained for different microwave (10, 30, and 50%) and infrared power (10, 40, and 70%) combinations for 600 s. Measured data and the model were in good agreement with an average root mean square error of 5.66 degrees C for temperature and 2.52% for moisture content. The effects of microwave and infrared powers on rate of heat and mass transfer of zucchini were analyzed. Practical Applications Microwave-infrared combination heating offers considerably faster heating with main disadvantage of hot and cold spots. By the help of mathematical explanation of systems, these problems can be eliminated. In this research, coupled three-dimensional finite element model was developed to simulate heat and mass transfer of zucchini cooked in microwave and infrared combination oven. The microwave power was predicted by the Lambert law. In addition, this study presented the effect of microwave and infrared power on rate of heat and mass transfer of zucchini and the variation of temperature with respect to position in the zucchini sample.