Temperature profiles in a cylindrical model food during pulsed microwave heating

Cylindrical 2%-agar gel samples were heated by pulsed and continuous microw ave applications. The total microwave application time of 3 min was maintai ned for all experiments. Sample temperature was measured at various depths along the radial dimension to experimentally determine the internal tempera ture profile as a function of heating time. A local hot spot was observed a t the center portion of the sample during the continuous microwave applicat ion. This hot spot was less significant during pulsed microwave application s, especially when longer intermittent power-off times were employed. An im plicit finite-difference model was used to estimate temperature profiles wi thin the sample during microwave heating. The estimated temperature profile s matched the experimental values well.