Construction and Verification of a Mathematical Model of Storage Time With Respiratory Heat Transfer

Cold chain containers are extensively applied to the fruit transport sector, and the storage time is a key performance indicator. The correlation between fruit respiration and storage longevity has not been fully elucidated. A new theoretical model is constructed by coupling conduction-convection-radiation-respiratory heat transfer, taking lemon, mango, and orange as examples. As for the cold chain container, heat transfer was constructed by shape factors, gravity-temperature difference coupling, and the radiation network method. As for fruit, the nonlinear model is used to fit the respiratory intensity at different temperatures. Theoretical predictions were compared with experimental data and simulation outcomes, which demonstrate the ability of the proposed theoretical model to serve as a substitute for simulation models in predicting experimental outcomes. Compared with the theoretical model without respiratory heat, the high prediction accuracy for the experimental results was obtained by the new theoretical model with respiratory heat. These findings reveal how fruit respiration impacts storage time in cold chain units, thereby guiding design optimization to minimize energy loss.