Learning objectives
Knowledge and Understanding: Through the lectures conducted during the course, the student will gain mastery of the basic principles for understanding the energy processes involved in the agri-food supply chain.
Ability to Apply Knowledge and Understanding: The student will need to acquire practical knowledge, particularly regarding thermal treatments and the cold chain in the agri-food sector. The student will also need to acquire the basic tools to independently and critically approach design choices aimed at the sustainable sizing of heat exchange apparatus.
Autonomy of Judgment: The student will need to possess the tools to critically evaluate design choices in the sizing of heat exchange apparatus for the agri-food sector, considering aspects related to sustainability.
Communication Skills: Through the lectures and interactions with the instructor, the student will need to acquire the specific terminology related to energy systems.
Learning Ability: The student who has attended the course will be able to deepen their knowledge regarding thermal treatment processes in the food industry through the independent consultation of specialist texts, scientific journals, or popular science magazines. This ability will enable the student to effectively enter the workforce or pursue further educational paths.
Prerequisites
To follow the course with profit requires knowledge of the basic concepts of Applied Physics.
Course unit content
The course aims to provide students with basic knowledge of the energy processes involved in the agri-food supply chain. The course alternates between lectures and practical exercises. The theoretical part covers the following topics: Recalls on energy balances for closed and open systems. Energy scenarios, the environmental problem, and the energy transition. Energy sources and the "green taxonomy." Energy consumption and production. The Italian context and the specifics of the agri-food sector. Thermal treatment processes. Heat exchangers and their sizing. The cold chain in the agri-food sector.
Practical exercises and in-depth case studies are an integral part of the course and are dedicated to numerical exercises intended as a moment of verification and clarification of the theoretical concepts acquired during the lectures.
Full programme
Bibliography
The notes of the lectures and exercises and all the supporting material are available to students and shared on the Elly platform. In addition to the shared material, the student can personally study some of the topics discussed during the course in the following books: F. P. Incropera, D. P. DeWitt: "Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer" John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Teaching methods
The course is worth 3 CFU (ECTS credits), which correspond to 30 hours of lectures. The educational activities will focus on classroom lectures (20 hours) combined with exercises and lessons dedicated to in-depth case studies (10 hours).
The theoretical part of the course is illustrated through frontal lessons. The part dedicated to exercise activities also involves activities carried out autonomously by the students, followed by the elaboration and discussion of the results.
The lecture notes and the proposed exercise outlines will be uploaded to the Elly platform. To download the material, students must enroll in the online course on the same platform.
In addition to the previously mentioned teaching methods, if conditions allow, seminars are organized and conducted by R&D managers from companies who present real case studies in the field of thermal exchange apparatus sizing in the food industry, with a focus on sustainability.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam is based on an oral test preceded by a written test requiring the resolution of one or more exercises. The correct resolution of at least 50% of the exercises proposed in the test is an admission constraint to the oral exam. In the oral exam, the correct and complete response to the theoretical questions and exposure property are evaluated. The results of the written test are communicated within a few days after the test itself through publication on the Esse3 Platform; The final vote that considers the vote of the written test (max 10 points) and of the oral test (max 20 points) shall be communicated immediately at the end of the oral exam before its registration. The Laude is added in case of an excellent score in each item (written test and oral exam) and in case of particular communicative and speaking ability with reference to the specific field. Please note that online registration is compulsory for the written test; Different dates are proposed for the oral exam depending on the students' requests. During the course, partial formative tests are given, useful for monitoring the achievement of the learning goals and for providing feedback to students before the official call. The dates of the partial tests will be communicated by the teacher during the lessons.
Other information
