Theoretical Formulas for Temperatures in Cans of Solid Food and for Evaluating Various Heat Processes

A general solution is obtained for transient temperature distributions in a finite cylinder by applying several integral transformations to heat conduction equation when it is subjected to time variable surface temperatures. From this general solution, various formulas for temperature distributions are derived for five different surface temperature‐processing time relationships. By using these derived formulas, we obtain formulas for these two parameters: slope indices and intercept coefficients of heating or cooling curves of cylindrical cans of conductive food. Expressions are also derived for estimating sterilizing values during a come‐up period of the heat process and also during the sinusoidal fluctuation of retort temperature.