Abstract:Aiming to enhance the performance of the Northern Fujian Oolong tea baking machine, the parallel efficient global optimization (PEGO) algorithm for iterative optimization of a Kriging surrogate model was proposed to optimize the structure of a baking machine and conduct experimental validation. An optimal Latin hypercube design was employed, with 30 sample sets generated using the following optimization variables: the inclination angle of deflector plate, the aperture of exhaust vent, tray count, and difference in the number of holes on the side gradient. Numerical simulations were conducted to obtain the standard deviation of chamber temperature as the response variable. Based on the sample data, a Kriging surrogate model describing the mapping relationship between optimization variables and response was constructed, laying the foundation for solving the optimal parameter set of the Northern Fujian Oolong tea roaster. The PEGO algorithm was proposed to iteratively optimize the Kriging surrogate model, yielding the optimal parameter combination and performing Spearman correlation analysis tests. Results indicated that the correlation coefficient between tray count and the standard deviation of chamber temperature was -0.83, indicating a high correlation;the correlation coefficient between difference in the number of holes on the side gradient and the standard deviation of chamber temperature was -0.017, with negligible influence;the optimal parameter combination was: the inclination angle of deflector plate was 8.3°, the aperture of exhaust vent was 25 mm, tray count was 9, and difference in the number of holes on the side gradient was 3. Compared with the original roaster, the novel baking machine for Northern Fujian Oolong tea reduced the standard deviation of chamber temperature by 86.6%, with the maximum reduction in relative temperature standard deviation reaching 73% and relative velocity standard deviation reaching 43%, indicating more uniform internal heating. The moisture content of the blades in the new baking machine was 3.88%, a decrease of 13.78% compared with the prototype baking machine, demonstrating effective performance enhancement. The research result can provide a crucial theoretical foundation and technical support for structural optimization and performance enhancement of the Northern Fujian Oolong tea baking machine.