INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
PROJECT
The area for receiving cartons from the field has evaporative cooling. In this area, the pallets are made up and secured for transport and cooling in the rapid tunnel.
Operating parameters of the refrigeration plant are viewed on a monitor in the office of the packhouse manager. not only to save power but also to closely match the cooling capacity with the refrigeration load. The cooling load varies considerably between the time the tunnels are first loaded and when all the grapes have reached temperature. Not being able to match the load stably is often a major problem in plants of this type. However, CoolCheck, with many years’ experience, has developed sophisticated control algorithms to ensure smooth running and a very close variation( 0.3K) in cooling air temperature. Due to the high ambient temperatures, the plant uses an evaporative type condenser.
Apart from the cooling tunnels, the refrigeration system also cools both a holding room to store the cooled pallets from the tunnels, and an airlock where incoming cartons are palletised.
Over a nearly 20-year period, the engineers at CoolCheck Consultants and Noord tot Suid Elektries en Verkoeling have become experts in the rapid cooling of fruits.
“ The racks at Berekisanang were the first of the new generation CoolCheck design and performed beyond expectations. The cooling rates with our second Orange River installation of new generation racks in November proved equally good, and we are extremely positive about meeting the demand for improved rates of cooling export fruit,” adds Spangenberg.
Many table grape producers anticipate double-digit growth as South Africa enters new markets, particularly in the East.
Because of the high ambient temperatures, an evaporative condenser was selected.
COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2017 www. coldlinkafrica. co. za 45