APPLICATION OF THE DISTRIBUTION FACTOR CONCEPT IN CORRELATING THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY DATA FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

An investigation into the application of the distribution factor concept, for correlating thermal conductivity data for fruits and vegetables, has been conducted. It has been found that, despite the distribution factor has a sound physical insight, its application is hindered by the empirical correlations like the porosity as a function of water content over wide range which need to be very accurate for the material of concern. It shows the necessity of generating accurate data on these relationships through careful experimentation to enable the establishment of a more sensible fundamental model. However, these would be very tedious and expensive tasks. In the mean time, the previous empirical models may be used to estimate the conductivity values.