Numerical modelling of heat and mass transfer processes in chinese cabbage cold storage chamber.

This paper is devoted to numerical modelling of heat and mass transfer phenomena in the cold storage chambers of vegetables. The main objective of the paper is to work out the model of the cold storage chamber that takes into account heat transfer, transpiration and respiration processes for the exemplary case of Chinese cabbage storage. The thermal non-equilibrium model of heat transfer in porous media was applied both to the bed of vegetables and to the heat exchanger of the cooler. The heat and mass transfer coefficients in the bed of cabbage and in the cooler, and other thermal quantities were considered as field quantities. The results of calculations were compared to the experimental data. Good agreement between predicted and measured temperature distributions in the bulk of vegetables was achieved.