Resumen:
The objective of this investigation in the evaluation of a process of frozen IQF “patacón” in an industry. An analysis of the actual situation was carried out; through the determination of the causes that made the process fail. Once we determined the stage were the biggest percentage of defects were presented; we analyzed the reason that carried to obtain a less quality product. In order to make an analysis in the freezing process, we considered three parameters in the tunnel’s operation: air velocity in the tunnel, temperature of the product before entering the tunnel and product’s flow into the tunnel. A data monitoring based on these parameters was performed to determined and characterized the behavior of the tunnel. This analysis let know the different cases presented daily on the tunnel. Once these cases were studied, we determined the freezing time in minutes necessary for the process. A mathematical model was realized, this model allows determining quickly and safely the freezing time that is necessary for each specific case.
