An improved thermal conductivity prediction model for fruits and vegetables as a function of temperature, water content and porosity

An improved general thermal conductivity prediction model has been developed for fruits and vegetables as a function of water content porosity and temperature. Thermal conductivity values of apple, peal; corn starch, raisin and potato were used to develop the model using 164 data points obtained from the literature. Raisin has the maximum mean percent deviation of 15.1% (standard deviation 10.1) and pear gave minimum mean percent deviation of 6.8% (standard deviation 7.3). The errors for predicting the thermal conductivity using this improved model for fruits and vegetables are therefore within the range of 6.8-15.1%, which is acceptable for general engineering practice. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.