An investigation of bread-baking process in a pilot-scale electrical heating oven using computational fluid dynamics

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed for bread-baking process in a pilot-scale baking oven to find out the effect of hot air distribution and placement of bread on temperature and starch gelatinization index of bread. In this study, product (bread) simulation was carried out with different placements of bread. Simulation results were validated with experimental measurements of bread temperature. This study showed that nonuniform air flow pattern inside the oven cavity leads to uneven temperature distribution. The study with respect to placement of bread showed that baking of bread in upper trays required shorter baking time and gelatinization index compared to those in the bottom tray. The upper tray bread center reached 100 °C at 1200 s, whereas starch gelatinization completed within 900 s, which was the minimum baking index. Moreover, the heat penetration and starch gelatinization were higher along the sides of the bread as compared to the top and bottom portions of the bread

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of an electrical heating oven for bread-baking process

Radiation is the most dominant heat transfer mode in an electrical heating oven. A 3D CFD model for an electric heating baking oven was developed. Three different radiation models namely, discrete transfer radiation model (DTRM), surface to surface (S2S) and discrete ordinates (DO) were employed for the simulation of the electrical baking oven. All models predicted almost similar results, which tallied well with the experimental measurements. During the full heating cycle, the oven set-point temperature was reached after 360 s. Lower temperature zones occurred near oven wall due to lower air flow. Based on preliminary evaluation of applicability, the DO radiation model was selected for bread baking simulation and validated with the experimental measurement of bread temperature. Bread simulation was carried out to study the profiles of temperature and starch gelatinization of crust and crumb of the product. This study indicated the baking process to be complete at 1500 s when the temperature of bread-center reached 100 °C