Estimation of Heat Transfer Coefficients of Cooked Boneless Ham

Biological heat transfer depends on many factors; however it is necessary to understand the cooling process to design safe and efficient meat cooling techniques. For this reason the convective heat transfer coefficient h of a five pound processed boneless pork ham was evaluated by two methods using a similarly shaped aluminum block. A Lumped Parameter approach in which mass transfer was ignored resulted in a heat transfer coefficient value of 5.10 W/m2K. A second method, which included mass transfer, resulted in a value of 9.11 W/m2K. These values fell within the expected range of 5-20 W/m2K but were lower than those derived by other published methods. It was concluded that the five pound processed boneless pork ham cut is too large for the Lumped Parameter approach; however the mass transfer method does appear valid.