Enhancing water diffusivity shortens meat processing time and saves energy and costs. One of the processes that can enhance water diffusivity in tissues is high-voltage, short-pulsed electric fields (PEF). However, for industrial PEF process development, there is a need in adaptable laboratory instruments. Here we report on a laboratory PEF generator, based on insulated-gate monopolar transistor switching, coupled with sliding positive electrode for the enhancement of water diffusivity in chicken breast muscle. The system generates rectangular monopolar pulses with a voltage amplitude up to 1000 V, current up to 160 A, pulse duration of 5 to 100 μs, and a frequency of pulse repetition of 1–16 Hz. The energy conversion efficiency of the developed PEF generator is 88%. We found that applying 120 pulses at 1000 V (~ 500 V mm⁻¹), and a pulse duration of 50 μs at 1 Hz, on the chicken breast muscle, increased the effective diffusivity of water by 13–24% and reduced convective air drying time by 6.4–15.3%. These results provide new information on the design of laboratory equipment to improve and optimize meat pre-processing on a small scale. Flexible, small-scale PEF equipment is a necessary step for the industrial development of new processes which could reduce equipment size and process energy consumption in the meat industry.

增强水的扩散性可缩短肉类加工时间，并节省能源和成本。可以增强组织中水扩散性的过程之一是高压短脉冲电场（PEF）。然而，对于工业PEF工艺开发，需要可适应的实验室仪器。在这里，我们报告了一个实验室PEF发生器，该发生器基于绝缘栅单极晶体管开关，再加上滑动正极，可增强鸡胸肌中水的扩散性。该系统生成矩形单极性脉冲，其电压幅度最高为1000 V，电流最高为160 A，脉冲持续时间为5至100μs，脉冲重复频率为1–16 Hz。研发的PEF发电机的能量转换效率为88％。我们发现在1000 V（〜500 V mm^-1）和1 Hz的50 Hz脉冲持续时间在鸡胸肌上使水的有效扩散率增加13–24％，对流空气干燥时间减少6.4–15.3％。这些结果为实验室设备设计提供了新的信息，以改进和优化小规模的肉制品预处理。灵活的小型PEF设备是新工艺工业开发的必要步骤，可以减少肉类行业的设备尺寸和工艺能耗。