PROJECT
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 1
High-tech new banana ripening
rooms for Springs Market
T
his project was initiated in 2017
but then later put on hold due
to unforeseen circumstances.
It was then reinitiated in 2018 to be
finished before the end of the year.
Patience and perseverance from the
full professional team and affected
contractors resulted in a successful
finished project.
NEW AND IMPROVED
As mentioned, the client had a need to
upgrade its banana ripening rooms. The
new rooms would improve the quality of
2
1
the end product significantly by employing
a much more sophisticated system.
Additionally, these rooms were
designed so that they could be used for
de-greening and straight cold storage if
required, the PLCs offering infinite flexibility
with regards to the “recipe” of gas and
temperature to ripen the fruit/vegetables.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The chilling of the cold rooms is provided
via one central cooling plant which
comprises two Aermec water chillers,
supplied by Aersa. The water is reticulated
4
3
via a variable speed drive (VSD)-driven
pump to the cooling coils in the room.
Each room has two cooling coils with
3 630mm fans each. The fans are
specifically sized this large to ensure air
flows through the small perforations in the
boxes and through the bananas.
The cooling coils are of a dual discharge
layout. They suck air up through the centre
of the room and push it out via a false
ceiling and air curtains down the side of
the room and through the banana boxes.
Should the rooms need to be heated, the
cooling coils have electric heater elements
to add heat to the room.
Cooling water is regulated by Belimo
modulating valves from Elliwel’s bespoke
PLC units (one at each room).
1. TelevisGo Scada plant monitoring and
control system.
2.
New building where banana ripening
rooms reside.
3. Water chillers outside on plinth.
4. DB board housing VSDs that run pumps
and chiller control units.
COLD LINK AFRICA • June 2019
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
13