Produce shrivel (or shrinkage) is associated with the drying phenomenon. An incorrectly designed air cooler will condense alot of moisture from returning air to the evaporator, and that, in turn, will result in dried air being supplied to the product thus reducing the weight of the product.
Function problems that arise from incorrectly designed air coolers could be:
Generally speaking the biggest single problem with an incorrectly designed air cooler related to the over exposure of air flow to the actual coil block, from a refrigeration engineered point of view, this will provide good cooling, however this over exposure also maximizes moisture loss. Excessive moisture in the drain tray can be equated to the moisture removed from the product.
An air cooler such as this although it may have been designed to provide good cooling, will consume much more energy and will also provide increased product damage. Introduced moisture, such as fogging units or flooding the cool-room floor with water, we believe is of little value in-fact the air cooler is operating like a dehumidifier.
How does the produce cooler minimize this?
Through extensive research and development, our engineers have developed what they believe to be the absolute state-of-the-art produce storage solution. The coil design is such that it enables large volumes of air to circulate freely through the face of the coil, while maximizing heat transfer and conversely minimizing moisture retention as a result of the manipulated face velocity. By shifting a large volume of air at an optimal face velocity, an added advantage is that moisture carry over or “spitting” is no longer a problem.
Can the produce cooler handle both quick pull down and long term storage?
During pull down, a wider temperature difference, along with increased fan speed is generally required. With the aid of two-speed fans (as standard) and the extended surface area, varied operating conditions can be handled at ease. It is also important to note that the new advanced triangular geometry employed by Southern Cross ensures that the thermal performance is enhanced and better utilization of the available surface area takes place.
Our Produce Coolers are available in Galvanised Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel and Aluminium or Copper and Alluminium
Traditionally, air coolers have been manufactured from carbon steel that has been “hot dip” galvanized. Galvanized air coolers are very robust and are often preferred in very harsh corrosive environments or in situations where there is a high possibility of mechanical damage. In more recent times, we have seen the introduction of lighter weight, aluminum finned air coolers accompanied by either stainless steel tubing, aluminum or copper.
The Southern Cross produce cooler is also available in both galvanized, copper/aluminum and stainless/aluminum options. The aluminum produce cooler is a very good option where space (as a result of high heat transfer coefficient of aluminum) and weight are governing factors. It is important to note that in many food applications (e.g.,controlled atmosphere storage, food processing) corrosion-resistant aluminum fins would be strongly recommended. As part of our policy to build a reliable produce cooler, we have added thicker stainless steel walled tube and epoxy fin coating as standard to the stainless steel aluminum models.
It appears that at some time in the near future, organic refrigerants (e.g., C02) with significantly higher operating pressures will be introduced into the industrial refrigeration markets. This is another reason why we were adamant that our tube thickness needed to be thicker than other manufacturers.
Why does the Southern Cross Produce Cooler look slightly bigger than others?
In most cases, our produce cooler will occupy slightly more space than non-equivalent standard units, because we offer:
- Increased utilisable surface area
- Optimized distance between coil block and fan
- Increased tube to fin ratio
- Generally speaking, the coil block is narrower but higher than standard units
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