1 Drying of Shrinkable Food Products: Appraisal of Deformation Behavior and

2 Moisture Diffusivity Estimation under Isotropic Shrinkage

3 B. Ortiz-García-Carrascoa; E. Yañez-Motaa; F.M. Pacheco-Aguirrea; O. Cortés-Zavaletab; I.I. Ruiz-Lópeza*
4 aColegio de Ingeniería en Alimentos. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de
5 Puebla. Av. San Claudio y 18 Sur. Ciudad Universitaria. Puebla, Puebla. México.
b
6 Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Alimentos. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioquímica.
7 Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz. Av. M.A. de Quevedo S/N. Col. 5 de Mayo. C.P. 91860. Veracruz,
8 Veracruz. México.
9 *Corresponding author. E-mail: irving.ruiz.buap@facebook.com, irving.ruiz@correo.buap.mx. Phone: +52-
10 222-2295500, Ext. 7250.
11
12Abstract
13
14A new methodology based on image analysis was proposed to estimate the simultaneous
15shrinkage and deformation (SD) during food drying. Potato strips (0.9525 × 0.9525 × 8 cm)
16were chosen as model system and subjected to convective drying at 50, 60, 70 and 80°C
17with an air velocity of 2 m/s. Developed protocol was used to analyze the SD behavior
18occurring in minor dimensions of product, considered the dominant mass transfer
19directions. To this purpose, 2D perpendicular slices were obtained from original 3D product
20and their digital images were further processed to evaluate the changes in contour shape,
21perimeter, and cross-sectional and specific areas of samples. Drying and shrinkage data
22were further used to estimate water diffusivity in product. Studied responses were
23successfully described as a function of free moisture fraction (R2 > 0.92). It was
24demonstrated that SD behavior was not affected by drying temperature under the described
25experimental conditions (p < 0.05). The analysis of mean contour shape allowed to find
26that, while shrinkage occurs from the beginning of drying, deformation appears at the final
27stages, when value for free moisture fraction is below 0.3. Under the described
28experimental conditions, mean water diffusivities were estimated in the range of X.XX -
29X.XX × 10-9 m2/s. As opposed to other methods, because SD characteristics are evaluated in
30non-negligible mass transfer directions, mean contour shape may be used to generate a
31target deformed-mesh for modeling and simulation purposes.
32Keywords: Deformation; Drying; Image analysis; Shrinkage
33
341. Introduction
35
36Food products are complex systems which ordinarily require the reduction of their water
37content in order to achieve an extended shelf-life and convective drying is commonly used
38to achieve this goal. This operation is accompanied by several changes in food, but
39shrinkage and deformation, besides color, are the most readily observable. Air drying
40involves several heat and mass transfer mechanisms; yet, water diffusion within the product
41described by Fick's second law is usually considered the controlling factor for modeling
42and simulation purposes (da Silva et al.; 2014; Pacheco-Aguirre et al., 2014). In this regard,
43the inclusion of food shrinkage is paramount for making a reliable estimation of diffusion
44coefficients and its description remains an actual subject (Souraki and Mowla, 2008;
45García-Pérez et al., 2012; Ruiz-López et al., 2012).
46In order to gather the required information to complement a drying model, the appraisal of
47product shrinkage can be achieved through universal methodologies including direct
48measurement of product dimensions or via volume displacement techniques (Panyawong
49and Devahastin, 2007; Yan et al., 2008; García-Pérez et al., 2012; Ponkham et al., 2012;
50Curcio and Aversa, 2014). In any case, dimensional changes are lumped in single variable,
51such as thickness or volume, with along drying. Nevertheless, foods not only shrink during
52drying but also may suffer a considerable deformation (i.e., shape change). Thus, several
53studies have focused on the characterization of SD characteristics of food products, mainly
54Thus, both assessment and prediction of food deformation represents a challenging task
55both numerically and experimentally.
56
572. Methodology
58
59 2.1. Drying experiments
60
61Two sets of air-drying experiments were conducted in order to obtain the SD behavior of
62potato strips as a function of their moisture content. Fresh, well-graded potatoes were
63locally purchased and dried the same day (Puebla, Pue., México). Potatoes were washed,
64dried with a cloth and sliced with a vegetable chipper (0.9525 cm square openings) to
65produce strips that were further cut to their desired length of 8 cm. On average, 12 regular
66slices were obtained from each tuber and remaining portions were reserved for the initial
67water/dry solids analysis. Drying experiments were conducted with 20 potato strips placed
68flat on a stainless steel welded mesh open tray (dimensions: 25×20 cm, openings: 0.45 cm
69× 0.50 cm, wire diameter: 0.07 cm) in a tunnel dryer (Armfield UOP8, Ringwood, UK)
70with airflow parallel to the product. Samples were dried at 50, 60, 70 and 80°C for about
71330-470 min with an air velocity of 2 m/s. Drying curves were obtained in the first
72experiment set, where moisture evolution was calculated by continuously recording the
73weight of the product during drying. These data were used to estimate the required time to
74approximately achieve an specified moisture content in product at each drying temperature
75(from Y = 0.1 to Y = 0.9 in 0.1 increments) in order to obtain SD data regularly spaced
76over this variable in the second experiment set.
77With the purpose of evaluate the SD behavior of product, groups with 5 samples each were
78formed and dried for the predefined times. Then, a single transversal slice (perpendicular to
79largest dimension) of about 1 mm was cut with a sharp blade from the central part of the
80strip. Digital images of resulting slices were immediately taken. Remaining product
81portions were analyzed for their moisture content. The aforesaid procedure was also applied
82to fresh ( Y = 1 ) and equilibrium-dried ( Y = 0 ) samples. A total of five slices were obtain
83for each moisture content-temperature combination.
84Required moisture contents were determined by oven-drying (Binder ED 53, Germany) the
85samples at 105°C until constant mass weight (when mass change was less than 0.001 g over
86an 8 h period). Initial moisture content of product was evaluated as 84.5±3.1 g water/100 g
87product (mean±s.d.).
 88 2.2. Image acquisition
89
90Potato slices jointly with a reference object of known dimensions (a black-anodized metal
91washer of 0.59 cm diameter) were put on a blue paper sheet to provide plenty contrast for
92background extraction, and their digital images were acquired (Coolpix L810, Nikon).
93Digital camera was placed with its sight line normal to the supporting base. Illumination
94was achieved with ordinary 18 W fluorescent lamps without special specifications as color
95didn´t need to be standardized between images. Images were taken with the maximum
96available resolution (4608×3456 pixels) in macro mode with a focal distance of about 10
97cm. Digital images were stored in JPEG format. The schematic view of the experimental
98image acquisition setup is shown in Figure 1.
99
100 2.3. Image analysis
101
102Two rectangular portions containing either the potato slice or the reference object were
103manually selected from the original image for their subsequent handling. Color information
104in these images was transformed to the CIELAB color space for their analysis. Thus, every
105pixel was represented as a vector of color components L * , a * and b * . Afterward, color
106data were quantized by means of k -means clustering (Press et al., 2007) and reduced to 3
107dominant color descriptors, which were enough to retain the image detail in product border.
108This operation allowed an easy both background extraction of image with a foreground
109mask and estimation of the pixel fraction corresponding to product. Quantized image
110without background was transformed to grayscale and finally coordinates of product
111boundary were obtained from this image. A total of 400 points were used to describe each
112product contour. Figure 2 shows the image analysis steps used to determine product
113deformation. On a separated procedure the relationship between pixel number and real
114dimensions of reference object was obtained, allowing the estimation of the slice area A .
115Boundary coordinates were further used to estimate contour perimeter P as the cumulative
116sum of the Euclidian distance between consecutive points. All image analysis operations
117were performed with the Matlab Image Processing Toolbox (Matlab R2010a, MathWorks
118Inc., Natick, MA, USA).
119 2.4. Modeling of shrinkage characteristics
120
121If cross-sectional area of product strip is considered constant along major dimension and
122much smaller than the lateral area, then specific area can be estimated with the simple
123expression
124
S PL + 2 A PL P
125 a = = � = (1)
V AL AL A
126
127In addition, changes in slice perimeter and cross-sectional area are proportional to changes
128in mass transfer surface and product volume if shrinkage is considered negligible along
129major dimension. Thus,
130
S PL P
131 � � (2)
S0 P0 L0 P0
V AL A
132 � � (3)
V0 A0 L0 A0
133
134The following relationships are proposed in this study to relate dimensional changes of
135product with moisture content:
136
A
137 = D A + ( 1 - D A ) Y nA (4)
A0

P
138 = D P + ( 1 - D P ) Y nP (5)
P0

a na
139 = 1 + D ae-k Y (6)
a0
140
141 2.5. Mean SD behavior
142
143Since all dried samples shrink and deform in a different way it is desirable to develop a
144strategy to appraisal relevant and common characteristics of this behavior. In this study, the
145contours were combined to obtain a mean deformation profile. However, contour
146coordinates cannot be simply averaged after their estimation, but they need to be translated
147and aligned with respect to some reference point as both position and orientation of objects
148in digital images changes in every shot, otherwise SD contour characteristics would cancel
149or produce unexpected results when averaged. Thus, the following algorithm was

150developed in order to align contours. Let us consider that Pi contains the ordered
151homogeneous coordinates, in clockwise or anticlockwise direction, of every point on
152contour i . Thus,
153

�xi � � xi,1 K xi, N �

� � � �
154 Pi = �y i �= �yi ,1 K yi , N � (7)
�
�1 � � ��1 K 1 � �
155
156The alignment of contour Pi with respect to contour Pr involves the translation of Pi

157coordinates in the amounts Dx and Dy , as well as their rotation in the angle f by means of
158the affine transformation
159
160 Pi ' = APi (8)
161
162where A is both a clockwise rotation matrix and a translation matrix
163
�cos f sin f Dx �
�- sin f cos f Dy �
164 A = � � (9)
�
� 0 0 1� �
165
166Parameters Dx , Dy and f should minimize some distance criterion between Pi and Pr .

167However, the straight comparison of these contours relates point pairs ( xi,1, yi,1 ) with

( ) ( ) ( ) (
168 xr ,1, yr ,1 , xi,2 , yi ,2 with xr ,1, yr ,1 and in general form xi , k , yi, k ) ( )
with xr , k , yr , k ,

169which not necessarily produce the best results. Consequently, both the cyclic order rotation
170and mirrored projection of Pi were considered to achieve the best overlap with reference

171contour. The cyclic order rotation Ti,g of contour Pi was defined as

172
x i ,g � �
� xi,g K xi, N xi,1 K xi,g -1 �
� � � �
173 Ti,g = �
y i,g �= �yi,g K yi, N yi,1 K yi,g -1 � (10)
�1 � �1 K 1 1 K 1 �
� � � �
174
175A distance criterion between Pi and Ti,g is given by
176

( ) ( xr - xi,g ) + ( y r - yi,g ) ( y r - yi,g )

T T
177 fg = xr - xi ,g (11)

178
179which correspond to the squared sum of x and y distances between both contours.

180Parameters Dx , Dy , f and g achieving the best overlap between Pi and Pr (those

181minimizing f ) can be estimated by means of nonlinear regression analysis. This procedure

182is repeated with the mirrored contour
183

�xˆ i � �max ( xi ) - xi ,1 K max ( xi ) - xi , N �

� � �
184 Pˆ i = �yˆ i �
�= � yi ,1 K yi , N � (12)
� � �
�1 � � � 1 K 1 �
185
186Only the best overlap of contour Pi (using the original or mirrored image) with respect to

187 Pr , designated as Pi �r , is considered in the rest of the analysis. Finally, contours can be
188averaged to obtain a single representative image of product deformation as
189

190 P = r � i �r
P + P
(13)
C
191
192Preliminary results indicated that any contour can be chosen as the reference one since the
193same final image is obtained in all cases. The adequacy of averaged contour to represent the
194global SD behavior of product can be estimated by calculating the evolution of its enclosed
195area which should be as close as possible to the mean value of original contours at each
196moisture content-temperature combination. Please notice that it is expected that perimeter
197and specific area of averaged contour slightly deviate from to the mean values of original
198contours, especially at low moisture contents, since averaging procedure smooths out
199roughness and irregularities developed in product border. Figure 3 shows the steps used to
200determine the representative SD behavior of potato strips.
201
202 2.6. Modeling of drying data
203
204By assuming (i) negligible heat transfer, (ii) constant properties of drying air, (iii) constant
205volumetric concentration of dry solids, (iv) uniform initial moisture distribution of water
206within the solid and (v) two-dimensional mass transfer in product, the unsteady-state
207diffusion model and its boundary condition are written as
208
�
u �� � u � �� �
u�
209 = �D �+ �D � (14)
�t �x� �
x� �y� �
y�
hm �u �u
210 ( H i - H ) = -n �Dr i e x - n �Dr i e y (15)
v �x �y
211
212Let us consider that both diffusion coefficient D and characteristic lengths for diffusion X

213and Y are explicit drying time functions, i.e., D = D ( t ) , X = X ( t ) and Y = Y ( t ) . Then,

214Eqs. (14) and (15) can be rewritten as
215

y �2y 1 �2y
�
216 = + (16)
�q �x2 k2 �
z2
�yi 1�yi
217 Bim ( t ) y i = -n � e x - n � e (17)
x
� z y
k �
 u - ue
218y = (18)
u0 - ue

D( t)
q=
219 � 2
�
t (19)
X ( t) �
�
� �
1 1
x=
220 � � z =
x; � �
y (20)
X ( t) Y ( t)

Y ( t) (1 v) hm dH i
221 k = ; Bim ( t ) = K ; K= (21)
X ( t) r � D( t) X ( t) �
� � dX i

222
223The term K in Eq. (21) is the local slope of equilibrium curve (an instantaneous partition
224coefficient). The variable transformations in Eq. (19) allowed expressing the original
225problem for moisture diffusion in a shrinkable body with variable diffusivity as the simpler
226case of mass transfer for constant D in a non-shrinkable product. However, the unknown

227variable nature of Bim ( t ) in boundary condition (17) represents a difficulty to provide an

228analytical solution to the aforementioned problem. Ruiz-López et al. (2012) demonstrated
229that if the internal resistance to mass transfer by diffusion is accepted as the only
230mechanism controlling drying rate throughout the drying process then existing solutions
231could be used to solve Eqs. (16)-(17) considering product shrinkage and variable water
232diffusivity. Under this assumption boundary condition (17) is simplified to
233
234y i = 0 in A (22)
235
236The procedure to both evaluate water diffusivities and describe drying kinetics of
237shrinkable food products proposed by Ruiz-López et al. (2012) is now extended to products
238with mass transfer in more than one direction. It should be noticed that following procedure
239is only applicable for products with isotropic shrinkage (solid shrinks in the same
240proportions in involved mass transfer directions). The analytical solution for Eq. (16) and
241(22) with mass transfer in x and y directions can be obtained from the well-known flat-
242slab solution and the superposition principle to obtain
243
 �8 � 1 � ( 2n - 1) 2 p 2 ��
Y=� � exp �- q �
�
2 2
�p
� n =1 ( 2 n - 1 ) �
�
4 �
�
�
�
244 (23)
�8 � 1 � ( 2n - 1) 2 p 2 q � �
� � exp � - ��
2 2 2�
� n =1 ( )
�p 2 n - 1 � 4 k �
� ��
245
246Eq. (23) allows the calculation of Y for a given drying time expressed as variable q (or
247the inverse problem).
248
249 2.6.1. Moisture diffusivity estimation
250
251Drying data, in the form of Y vs. t and L vs. t (or Y ), can be used for moisture
252diffusivity estimation using the following procedure: (i) calculate q for every Y value in

253the drying curve by solving Eq. (23), (ii) calculate the derivative dq dt and (iii) estimate
254moisture diffusivities from Eq. (19) at every experimental t as
255
2 dq
256 D ( t ) = �
X ( t) �
� � dt (24)

257
258In our case, as cross-sectional area can be calculated with Eq. (4), then
259

A XY kX2
260 = = or X = A A0 (25)
A0 X 0Y0 k X 02

261
262In this study, Eq. (23) was numerically solved for experimental Y values with bisection
263algorithm, while derivatives dq dt in Eq. (24) were estimated using finite differences with
264second-order accuracy. Estimated diffusivities were further used to evaluate its dependence
265on moisture content and drying temperature with the model
266

267 D ( Y ) = ( d0 + d1T ) � ( ) (
1 - exp - k1Y n1 �exp - k2Y n2
� � ) (26)
268
269Mean water diffusivities for every drying temperature were estimated from the numerical
270integration of instantaneous values using trapezoidal rule according to
271
Y Y2
272 D = �
2
D( Y) dY � dY (27)
Y 1 Y1

273
274 2.6.2. Drying simulation
275
276If the dependence of both D and X on time or moisture content are known, for example
277with Eqs. (25) and (26),then drying curves can be simulated from Eq. (19) by solving the
278initial value problem,
279
2 2
dt �X ( t) � X ( Y) �
�= �
280 =� � � with t q = 0 = 0
( ) (27)
dq D( t) D( Y)

281
282where Y is calculated from q from each iteration with Eq. (23), and Y is further used to

283evaluate both D ( Y ) and X ( Y ) .

284
285 2.7. Data analysis
286
287The fitness quality of identified models was quantified by the determination coefficient (

288 R 2 ) and statistical significance of parameter estimates was evaluated through their 95%
289confidence intervals (95% CI). Numerical procedures, nonlinear regression (based on
290ordinary least squares) and statistical analyses were performed with the Matlab software
291and its Statistics Toolbox 7.3 (Matlab R2010a, MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA, USA).
292
293
2943. Results and discussion
295
296 3.1. Shrinkage characteristics of potato strips
297
298Figures 4-6 show the dependence of perimeter, cross-sectional area and specific area of
299contours on moisture content. Initial values of these variables were determined as 37.4430
300mm, 86.5779 mm2 and 0.4325 mm-1, respectively. These values were slightly different than
301those expected from size of chipper openings (9.525 mm), corresponding to 38.1 mm,
30290.7256 mm2 0.4199 mm-1. As expected, perimeter and cross-sectional area of samples
303decreased with moisture content, while the specific area exhibited the opposite behavior.
304No significant effect of drying temperature was observed on shrinkage characteristics of
305potato (p < 0.05), which is in agreement with previous studies (Hassini et al., 2007). Thus,
306Eqs. (4)-(6) were fitted over the entire temperature domain. The regression coefficients of
307the models used for the mathematical description of these data are presented in Table 1. A

308satisfactory reproduction of these responses was achieved in all cases ( R 2 > 0.84 ).
309As demonstrated in Eq. (3), for studied geometry, changes in cross-sectional area are
310related with changes in product volume. Drying of potato strips resulted in samples with

311about 17% of their original size ( D A = 0.1733 ). This shrinkage value is comparable to
312those found in other studies, regardless of the sample geometry and the method used to
313estimate it. For example, Wang and Brennan (1995) and Hassini et al. (2007) reported
314potato slabs (10 mm × 45 mm × 20 mm) shrinking up to 17-20% of their original volume
315when dried at 40-85°C with air velocities ranging from 0.5 to 4 m/s. Lozano et al. (1983)
316also reported a final shrinkage ratio of approximately 19% via a water displacement
317technique for potato cylinders (1cm in diameter, 4 cm long) dried at 40°C with an air
318velocity of 1 m/s. Hassini et al. (2007) measured product volume from the direct local
319measurements of length, thickness and width of the potato slabs, while Lozano et al. (1983)
320and Wang and Brennan (1995) used volume displacement techniques with toluene and
321water, respectively. According to statistical analysis, the dependence of cross-sectional area

322on moisture content shows a noticeable deviation from straight line behavior ( n A �1 ,
323 p < 0.05 ), indicating that dimensional changes of product not only depend on volume of
324evaporated water, but also on the collapse resistance of cell structure. As shown in Figure 4,
325size of potato strips was initially reduced in about 40% when the 60% of available water
326was eliminated, but a comparable size reduction was observed thereafter, when a smaller
327amount of water was evaporated (the remaining 40%). We hypothesize that as water is
328eliminated from product cell turgor is gradually loss, but rigidity of cell walls offers a
329resistance against shrinkage. However, as drying proceeds, the continuous water flux across
330membranes might rupture them once a critic moisture content is reached, debilitating the
331inner structure of product and causing a pronounced shrinkage ( 0.1 �Y �0.4 ). Finally, at
332very low moisture contents water could be removed with minimum product shrinking if
333collapse of cell structure is not complete, causing the development of an air-filled porous
334network, which reflects as a subtle tail of data in Figure 4 at Y < 0.1 . Shrinkage deviations
335from the straight-line behavior have been well-documented in several studies with current
336product (Lozano et al., 1983; Wang and Brennan, 1995; Hassini et al., 2007).
337According to Eq. (2), changes in perimeter are related with changes available surface for
338mass transfer. Surface area of potato strips decreased with moisture content up to about the

33964% of its original value ( D P = 0.6390 ), with no significant departure from the straight-

340line behavior ( nP = 0.9581 , 95% CI = 0.8625/1.0537). Image analysis has been previously
341used to estimate the surface area evolution of potato slices. For example, Campos-Mendiola
342et al. (2007) measured the lateral area of circular potato slices () . Yadollahinia and
343Jahangiri (2009) and Yadollahinia et al. (2009) followed the evolution of the upper area of
344circular potato slices (10 mm in thickness, 35 mm in diameter) during drying (60-80°C,
3450.5-1 m/s), reporting final reductions between 50-65% of the original values. These authors
346reported a marked deviation of this response from the straight-line behavior for Y < 0.1 ,
347caused by bending of product to produce an irregular shape, affecting the measured area.
348irregular shap. he surface of pTo the best of the author's knowledge, very few studies exist
349where product surface is measured from a direct product measurement. Drying of potato
350strips resulted in samples with about 17% of their original size
351
352
353
354
355
356
357 3.2. Deformation characteristics of potato strips
358
359Deformation and shrinkage characteristics of the cross section of potato strips were
360successfully estimated with the proposed methodology. It was found that all samples
361suffered a similar size reduction and shape change along process regardless of drying
362temperature. A comparison of the contour shapes at the end of drying is presented as
363example in Figure 4 (for Y = 0 ). It should be emphasized that shrinkage and deformation
364behavior was unique for each sample, but they clearly exhibit a repetitive pattern. Thus, the
365use of a mean deformation profile is desirable for a representative both mathematical and
366qualitative description of product shape changes during drying. For all studied
367temperatures, product reduced its dimensions without a significant shape change up to a
368free moisture content of 0.3, with an important deformation occurring thereafter, mainly
369manifested in a contraction of contour edges toward the sample center, as evidenced in
370Figure 4 for product dried at 80°C.
371This figure The effect of moisture content on cross-sectional area, contour perimeter and
372specific area of potato strips is shown in Figures X to X for all drying temperatures, while
373regression analysis are shown in Table 1. Proposed models A good reproduction . Drying
374temperature did not show a significant effect on . Initial specific area of potato strips was
375determined as .
376Regression parameters for moisture diffusivity equation are shown in Table 2. A good

377reproduction of experimental behavior was achieved with proposed model ( R 2 = 0.9404 ).

378Moisture diffusivity model jointly with
379
3804. Conclusions
381
382The proposed methodology allowed estimating representative SD characteristics of potato
383strips along dominant mass transfer directions. It was demonstrated that product shrank
384practically since the beginning of drying process as a consequence of the
385
386Nomenclature
387
388 a specific area (m-1)
389 A affine transformation matrix
390 A cross-sectional area of product (m2)
391 Bim Biot number for mass transfer (dimensionless)
392 C number of contours to be averaged
393 D effective diffusivity of water in food (m2/s)
394 d0 parameter for moisture diffusivity equation (m2/s)

395 d1 parameter for moisture diffusivity equation (m2/s·°C)

396 e basis vector of the orthogonal coordinate system
397 hm external mass transfer coefficient (m/s)
398 K water partition ratio between gas and solid phases
399 k1 , k2 parameters for moisture diffusivity equation (dimensionless)
400 L product length (m)
401 n power constant (dimensionless)
402 n normal unit vector
403 N number of points on a product contour
404 n1 , n2 parameters for moisture diffusivity equation (dimensionless)
405 P perimeter of product contour (m)
406 P , P̂ , P edge coordinates of product contour: original, mirrored and averaged,
407respectively
408 S product surface (m2)
409 t drying time (s)
410 u moisture content (kg water/kg dry solids)
411 v humid volume of drying air (m3 humid air/kg dry air)
412 V product volume (m3)
413 X characteristic length for water diffusion along x -axis (m)
414 Y characteristic length for water diffusion along y -axis (m)
415
416Greek letters
417 Dx horizontal translation (m)
418 Dy vertical translation (m)
419 g denotes the g th cyclic order rotation of coordinates in product contour
420 f rotation angle (rad)
421 k height-to-width ratio (dimensionless)
422 r volumetric concentration of dry solids (kg dry solids/m3 product)
423 q modified Fourier number for mass transfer in shrinkable products with time-
424dependent diffusivity (dimensionless)
425 x axial coordinate (dimensionless)
426y , Y free moisture fraction (dimensionless): local and averaged, respectively
427 z axial coordinate (dimensionless)
428
429Subscripts
4300 at the beginning of the drying process
431 a for specific area
432 A for cross-sectional area
433 e at equilibrum
434 i at the air-product interface
435 P for perimeter
436 r any reference product contour
437
438Acknowledgments
439
440The authors wish to thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for
441providing financial support through projects 118315 and 130011. Francisco Manuel
442Pacheco-Aguirre acknowledges his doctoral scholarship from CONACYT.
443
444
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499
500
501Figure captions
502
503Figure 1. Schematic view of experimental setup for image acquisition and sample
504preparation: (1) digital camera, (2) fluorescent lamps, (3) reference object, (4) product slice,
505(5) contrast background, (6) adjustable support, (7) dried product strip and (8) sharp blade.
506
507Figure 2. Image analysis steps used to determine product deformation: (a) original image,
508(b) simplified image with three color clusters, (c) gray-scale image after removing non-
509product color clusters and (d) product contour.
510
511Figure 3. Contour manipulation steps used to determine a representative image of product
512deformation: (a) original, (b) aligned and (c) averaged contours (black contour was chosen
513as the reference one). Contours correspond to an equilibrium-dried potato strip at 70°C.
514
515Figure 4. Effect of moisture content on relative perimeter of dried potato strips.
516
517Figure 5. Effect of moisture content on relative cross-sectional area of dried potato strips.
518
519Figure 6. Effect of moisture content on relative specific area of dried potato strips.
520
521Figure 7. Final edge deformation of slices cut from dried potato strips.
522
523Figure 8. Mean edge deformation of slices cut from dried potato strips (80°C). Inner
524numbers represent the free moisture fraction reached in product/elapsed drying time (min).
525
526Figure 9. Comparison of perimeter estimated from original and averaged contours.
527
528Figure 10. Comparison of cross-sectional area estimated from original and averaged
529contours.
530
531Figure 11. Comparison of specific area estimated from original and averaged contours.
532
533Figure 12. Water diffusivities as a function of moisture content during drying of potato
534strips.
535
536Figure 13. Experimental (dots) and predicted (lines) potato drying curves.
537
538
Table 1. Regression parameters for shrinkage models
Response Parameters Value 95% CI R2
Perimeter DP 0.6390 0.6233/0.6547 0.8460
nP 0.9581 0.8625/1.0537
Cross-sectional area DA 0.1733 0.1469/0.1997 0.9320
nA 0.7222 0.6732/0.7712
Specific area Da 2.2641 2.1730/2.3553 0.9226
k 5.8974 4.8650/6.9297
na 1.1257 1.0002/1.2512
539
540
541
Table 2. Regression parameters for water diffusivity model
Parameter Value 95% CI
d0 �1010 (m2/s) -1.2333 -2.0408/-0.0426
d1 �1011 (m2/s·°C) 1.0246 0.8903/1.1590
k1 (dimensionless) 7.8981 4.0639/11.7323
n1 (dimensionless) 0.6046 0.4932/0.7161
k2 (dimensionless) 2.9294 2.4228/3.4361
n2 (dimensionless) 7.1208 5.9278/8.3138
542
543
544
545
546Figure 1. Schematic view of experimental setup for image acquisition and sample
547preparation: (1) digital camera, (2) fluorescent lamps, (3) reference object, (4) product slice,
548(5) contrast background, (6) adjustable support, (7) dried product strip and (8) sharp blade.
549

550
551
552Figure 2. Image analysis steps used to determine product deformation: (a) original image,
553(b) simplified image with three color clusters, (c) gray-scale image after removing non-
554product color clusters and (d) product contour. Image correspond to an equilibrium-dried
555potato strip at 50°C.
556

557
558
559Figure 3. Contour manipulation steps used to determine a representative image of product
560deformation: (a) original, (b) aligned and (c) averaged contours (black contour was chosen
561as the reference one). Contours correspond to an equilibrium-dried potato strip at 70°C.
562

563
564
565Figure 4. Effect of moisture content on relative perimeter area of dried potato strips.
566
567

568
569
570Figure 5. Effect of moisture content on relative cross-sectional area of dried potato strips.
571

572
573
574Figure 6. Effect of moisture content on relative specific area of dried potato strips.
575
576

577
578
579Figure 7. Final edge deformation of slices cut from dried potato strips.
580

581
582
583Figure 8. Mean edge deformation of slices cut from dried potato strips (80°C). Inner
584numbers represent the free moisture fraction reached in product/elapsed drying time (min).
585

586
587
588Figure 9. Comparison of perimeter estimated from original and averaged contours.
589

590
591
592Figure 10. Comparison of cross-sectional area estimated from original and averaged
593contours.
594
595

596
597
598Figure 11. Comparison of specific area estimated from original and averaged contours.
599

600
601
602Figure 12. Water diffusivities as a function of moisture content during drying of potato
603strips.
604

605
606
607Figure 13. Experimental (dots) and predicted (lines) potato drying curves.