Recommendations

Before you implement your project, it is important to follow certain recommendations to ensure optimal functioning of your rooms. This includes both construction of the rooms as well as operation of the equipment installed in the rooms.

Regarding the construction of a room, the best sizing is achieved by observing the following rule-of-thumb recommendations:

• Consider the space necessary for sufficient air circulation, such as a space of 80 cm below the ceiling
• Provide adequate insulation panels for efficiently limiting the energy cost of the entire system
• Perform a perfect seal between panels
• Check the tightness of the soil and insulation to reduce energy losses
• Choose special doors normally used controlled atmosphere storage rooms
• Provide a safety valves and balloon compensation if necessary for pressure control

Sealing of controlled atmosphere storage rooms remains as a critical requirement for proper operation of the equipment and preservation of fruit and vegetables in a controlled atmosphere storage room.

For proper refrigeration, it is important to size the system based on the size of your project by considering the following parameters:

• A suitable method of cooling: direct or indirect relaxing brine
• Compressors to suit your needs: screw or piston
• Condensers: air, water or evaporative
• Evaporators: adequate cooling load and sufficient exchange area
• Regulator: A good sized regulator and a deicing system performance

For proper and safe operation of your controlled atmosphere storage room, the differential temperature should never exceed 0.5 °C.

Finally, in order to properly size the CO₂ adsorbers for your CA rooms, it is important to know the different varieties stored, because of the difference in breathing rate of various fruit. Our CO₂ adsorbers can work on several rooms and be operated by automatically switching between the different rooms as needed. Our O₂/CO₂ analyzer used separately or integrated into the adsorber allows daily monitoring of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the rooms. A nitrogen generator will allow you to quickly remove the oxygen after exiting the room to quickly slow down respiration of stored fruit. It is advisable to lower the oxygen level in the room within 48 hours of sealing the rooms. To keep kiwis, controlled atmosphere rooms must imperatively be equipped with ethylene scrubbers to maintain very low ethylene levels in the room. It is necessary to use an ethylene analyzer that can monitor the level of ethylene in the rooms and allow preventive action if necessary.