Abstract:
The objective of this research was to study the mathematical model of freezing time prediction for cuttlefish using the numerical and simple equation method. The thermo-physical properties (moisture content. Freezing point, density, thermal conductivity, and specific heat) of cuttlefish (Sepia sp.) above and below freezing point and the surface heat transfer coefficient during freezing process were determined used in the model. The moisture content was measured by the drying method, the freezing point by the freezing curve method, the density by the buoyant force measurement at 0⁰ - 30 ℃ and by measuring the mass known volume cuttlefish at -5⁰ to - 30 ℃ ,the thermal conductivity by the heated probe method, and the specific heat by the modified method of mixture. The results showed that the moisture content and the freezing point of cuttlefish were 81.72±2.01% and -0.8⁰ to 1.5 ℃, respectively. At the temperature above freezing point of cuttlefish, the density, the thermal conductivity and the specific heat were 1050.75±1.06 kg/m³ , 0.528-0.548 w/m.K and 0.884-0.906 cal/g. ℃, respectively . At the temperature below freezing point of cuttlefish, the density decreased from 985.5 kg/m³ to 959.0 kg/m³ and the thermal conductivity increased from 1.124 W/m.K to 1.644 W/m.K when the temperature decreased from -5⁰ to 30 ℃ while the specific heat decreased from1.602 cal/g. ℃ o576 cal/g. ℃ when the temperature decreased from -10⁰ to - 30 ℃. The surface heat transfer coefficient during freezing process as measured by metal transducer was found to increase when the velocity increased and the correlation between Nusslt number and Reynolds number was found to be power equation. The thermophysical properties of cuttlefish and surface heat transfer coefficient were used to calculate the freezing time for cuttlefish by the numerical and simple equation methods. The result showed that the numerical method gave a better freezing time prediction with the mean error of 1.5%