Heating Characteristics of Mashed Potato in a 915 MHz Microwave-Circulated Water Combination Heating System

A pilot scale 915 MHz Microwave-Circulated Water Combination (MCWC) Heating system was used to process hermetically packaged mashed potato with different moisture content and salt content. The heating patterns for the product were obtained by an infrared thermal camera. The similar heating situations were simulated by a Quick Wave 3D software package using Finite-Difference Time-domain (FDTD) method. Good agreements between experimental results and modeling ones were observed. The results indicated that heating patterns of mashed potato using the 915 MHz MCWC heating system were repeatable and could be predicated through simulation work. This study helps to determine the locations of cold spot(s) in the package and to justify the way of monitoring MCWC heating process for its future industrialization.