Hydrocooling time estimation methods

Precooling refers to the rapid removal of field heat from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables prior to shipping, storage or processing. Hydrocooling is a form of precooling in which the product is sprayed with or immersed in an agitated bath of chilled water. The design of hydrocooling systems requires accurate estimation of the hydrocooling times of fruits and vegetables as well as the corresponding refrigeration loads. Numerous methods for predicting the hydrocooling times of fruits and vegetables have been proposed, and the designer is faced with the challenge of selecting an appropriate estimation method from those available. Therefore, this paper reviews selected estimation methods for the hydrocooling times of fruits and vegetables, and quantitatively evaluates the selected hydrocooling time estimation methods by comparing their numerical results to a comprehensive experimental hydrocooling time data set compiled from the literature.