Professor Cleland undertakes fundamental & applied research relevant to industrial refrigeration, food processing, energy efficiency, sustainability & heat pump technologies. A common outcome has been simple, yet accurate, methods to optimise the design & operation of food refrigeration & processing systems. Improved environmental performance, particularly energy efficiency, has also been sought.
A long term focus has been prediction of food freezing & chilling rates while significant developments have arisen from recent thermal conductivity prediction research leading to definitive texts for practitioners. An important new direction has been moisture transport & RH prediction in refrigerated facilities. Sustainability has become another emergent area while related energy efficiency & food processing research have continued.
Most of this research has been funded externally; often by industry. Technology transfer has been achieved through a combination of publications, CPD courses, software development, conference organisation, standards development, demonstration projects, research-based advice to business & consultancy.
