Some thermodynamic properties of fish and their effect on the rate of freezing

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Abstract
Theoretical analyses and experiments are described which show the considerable variation of thermal conductivity, density and apparent specific heat of fish muscle with temperature. The variation of these properties is‐found experimentally to introduce a number of interesting phenomena.A preliminary investigation into the freezing of small packages of fillets by refrigerated air blast indicated : (i) the necessity for precision in thermocouple positioning and uniformity in heat transfer to obtain accurate thermal arrest measurements, (ii) the effect of air speed, temperature and thickness of pack on thermal arrest time, (iii) the effect of different conditions on evaporative weight losses, and (iv) the edge effects obtained with small packages.It had been found during this investigation that the initial loading temperature had a significant effect on the thermal arrest time. This phenomenon, whereby an increase in initial temperature affords a reduction in thermal arrest time, is studied in detail. The effect is so marked under certain conditions as to invalidate much experimental work for which initial temperatures were not recorded. The thermal arrest may be reduced by as much as one half under identical plant operating conditions, and an attempt is made to explain this effect.

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