The influence of ultrasound (US) pretreatments combined with infrared (IRD) and hot-air (HAD) drying on drying kinetics, mathematical modeling, bioactive compounds (antioxidant activities, Vitamin C, phenolics, and flavonoid contents), qualitative properties (β-carotene, total carotenoids, color indexes, textural profile), enzyme inactivation, and exergetic analysis of sweet potatoes. The US pretreatment at 40 kHz combined with IRD and HAD (70 °C) significantly lessened the drying time and water contents. Besides, it did not affect the sweet potato's bioactive components and other quality-related attributes. The samples’ activation energy (E_a) ranged from 17.60 to 29.86 kJ/mol for both dryers, with R² (0.999–0.9809). Control samples had the highest specific energy consumption (SEC) due to the extended drying period, whereas ultrasound (40 kHz) treated samples had the lowest SEC during HAD and IRD at 80 °C. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that increasing the drying temperature lowers the enthalpy and Gibbs free energy, while entropy resulted in negative values. HAD had better textural qualities (hardness and resilience). The US pretreatments followed by HAD or IRD may lead to an energy-efficient method with acceptable quality maintenance.

超声 (US) 预处理与红外 (IRD) 和热风 (HAD) 干燥相结合对干燥动力学、数学模型、生物活性化合物（抗氧化活性、维生素 C、酚类和类黄酮含量）、定性特性（β-胡萝卜素、总类胡萝卜素、颜色指数、质地轮廓）、酶失活和红薯的火能分析。40 kHz 的 US 预处理结合 IRD 和 HAD (70 °C) 显着减少了干燥时间和水含量。此外，它不影响甘薯的生物活性成分和其他与质量相关的属性。两种干燥器的样品活化能 ( E _a ) 范围为 17.60 至 29.86 kJ/mol，R ²(0.999–0.9809)。由于延长的干燥时间，对照样品的比能量消耗 ( SEC ) 最高，而超声 (40 kHz) 处理的样品在 80 °C 的 HAD 和 IRD 期间的SEC最低。热力学参数表明，提高干燥温度会降低焓和吉布斯自由能，而熵会导致负值。HAD 具有更好的质地（硬度和弹性）。美国预处理之后的 HAD 或 IRD 可能会导致一种具有可接受的质量维护的节能方法。