Study on Shrinkage Deformation of Food in Microwave–Vacuum Drying

Abstract

Drying shrinkage is an important problem in the food industry. Focusing on microwave–vacuum drying, we study the mechanism of deformation due to shrinkage of the food structure. A relationship between the strain and the water content is introduced for a finite element analysis. The temperature and water distributions are obtained by a finite difference method with the use of a variable permeability and diffusion coefficient depending on the water content. Comparisons with experimental data on radishes, carrots, and tofu indicate that the present model can express the deformation as well as the water content inside the materials.

Keywords:

• Microwave–vacuum drying of food
• MRI imaging
• Numerical model
• Shrinkage deformation
• Water distribution

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors appreciate A. Kawasaki and K. Ohba for their assistance in this study.