Theoretical models of vegetable drying by convection

The results of experiments are often used to model empirical phenomena. However, the term model is applied in various meanings. A model is usually treated as an abstract formal structure that can replace a material system considered as original, in respect to the aim of modeling. Certain formal structures may be treated as theoretical models of empirical phenomena. On the other hand, a material system can also be referred to as a model of an abstract system, e.g., a set of equations or a hypothesis. Such a material system, if it is a distinct empirical interpretation of the language of a given theory, is then called a real model. Both kinds of models are applied in drying technology, but the second one is more inventive. The mathematical structures are treated as empirical formulae or as theoretical models properly derived from true or legitimated promises of a given theory. The advantages of some mathematical theoretical models of drying processes versus empirical formulae are discussed. The creation of new mathematical theoretical models of convection drying kinetics of some shrinking solids is presented and analyzed. One of the above models was also hypothetically suggested for modeling the drying of cut vegetables in a fluidized-bed. Despite its initial acceptance due to peer empirical justification on cut carrots and celery, it still requires further theoretical analysis. Other models indicated here are theoretical models of vegetable drying in a tunnel drier. These models are created by deduction from laws of heat and mass transfer theory and its basic equations. XI Polish Drying Symposium, Poznań, Poland, 13–16 September 2005.