CFD modeling of packaging of mango fruit during forced evaporative cooling

Small-scale evaporative cooling systems are in use in developing countries to improve quality and reduce postharvest loss of mango fruits.
However, unless packaging is designed properly, it is not possible to achieve fast and uniform cooling despite the cost of energy for pumping water and air circulation inside the cooler.
Three currently used packaging boxes (of carton, plastic and wood construction, respectively) and two fruit-stacking patterns inside the box (random and regular) were evaluated numerically using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Mango fruit geometries were selected randomly from 100 representative shapes of the ‘Kent’ cultivar, which were generated by a validated 3D fruit shape model generator.
Discrete element modeling (DEM) was used to generate a random stacking pattern by using the principle of Newton second law to obtain the position of the bodies inside the packages.
Storage experiments at different temperatures were conducted to identify the firmness model parameters.
The result of the simulation was then compared with experimental results obtained in a small scale cooling set-up.
Fast cooling was observed for the carton, followed by plastic and wood packages.
The improvement observed between the carton and plastic packaging was found to be significant compared to plastic and wood packaging.

VI International Conference Postharvest Unlimited

M.K. Assefa, W. Gruyters, S. Rogge, S. Vanmaercke, H. Ramon, B.A. Demessie, E.A. Shimelis, P. Verboven, B. Nicolaï

CFD, pre-cooling, DEM, quality, cooling rate, temperature, airflow

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1256.45