Simplified model of airflow and heat transfer in a pallet of food product generating heat

During storage, pallets of food product generating heat (e.g., cheese, fruit, and vegetable) are exposed to low velocity ventilation. In addition, the boxes have often little perforation. Therefore airflow is weak inside the boxes located downstream of the pallet; and if the product generates heat, its temperature can rise above the recommended one. Computational fluid dynamics modeling can predict these phenomena but needs an expertise of numerical fluid flow, a detailed description of product and packaging and leads to expensive computational costs. A simplified model is here developed based on a hydraulic network analogy. Given the vent holes areas of the boxes and the heat generation, it predicts the global air flow (flow through the box faces) and the product temperature. The predictions are in good agreement with experimental data. The software (Matlab executable) is easy to use and needs only some seconds to compute. It can be used to predict temperature evolution along a cold chain and to improve packaging and logistic operating conditions.