Study of different storage structures

Presented by: Kavya shree M.G MK 815

Storage structures:
storage is one of the most important aspects of the post harvest handling of fruits and vegetables . The main object of storage of fresh fruits and vegetables is to extend their period of availability. A substantial quantity of these commodities go waste in our country due to lack of proper storage facilities. Orderly marketing of horticultural produce requires some storage facilities to balance between product harvest and sales as well as long term storage to extend marketing beyond the end of the harvest season.

The objectives of storages :

1.To reduce physiological activity of fruits and vegetables by maintaining the lowest temperature that will not cause chilling injury and by controlling atmospheric composition. 2.Reduce the growth of microorganisms by maintaining low temperatures.

3.Prevent drying of fruits and vegetables by reducing the difference between fruits and air temperatures and maintaining high humidity in the storage room.

cool store:
Here temperature is brought down by taking out the heat with the help of mechanical refrigeration. The expanded gas is then compressed The heat is removed from the Compressed gas by means of running water. The ideal environmental condition for fresh produce in storage is the lowest temperature which does not cause chilling injury to the produce. A small temperature difference between the cooling coil and the stored fruits is required to maintain an adequate control of relative humidity in a storage room.

In order to increase relative humidity, water may be sprayed Into the controlled storage Chamber. The storage life of fruits and vegetables varies inversely with the rate of respiration and evolution of heat.

ice bank cooler:

In this system, a bank of ice is built up with a relatively small refrigeration plant. The ice is accumulated on extended surface plates, which are suspended in a tank of water. The water surrounding the ice is pumped to the top of a cooling tower and falls through the tower passing over the extended surface, giving a large surface area for heat exchange. The air leaving the tower maintains high humidity.

Once the initial cooling is complete the store maintains a temperature of 0.5-0.8*c and relative humidity of 98 per cent.

low cost storage:

Low cost storage system has a great significance in India since other advanced storage systems work out to be extremely expensive. Most of the low cost storage structures are built by taking the advantage of natural cooling. There are two types of low cost storages: 1) clamps and 2) celler

Clamps:

Celler:

Evaporative cooling:
Evaporative cooling occurs when air, that is not saturated with water vapour is blown across any wet surface. The lowest temperature, that can be reached by the evaporation of water is called the wet bulb temperature. It has considerable potentials for pre cooling and even storage of fruits. The principles of evaporative cooling can be gainfully utilized for storage of fresh produce.

Zero energy cool chamber:

This is based on the principles of evaporative cooling. These structures have been made from cheap, locally available raw materials, such as brick, sand, bamboo, gunny cloth, etc., with a source of water supply. The floor of storage space is made with single layer bricks, the side walls with a double layer of bricks. The space (7.5 cm) between the bricks is filled with river bed sand. The top of the storage space is covered with gunny cloth in a bamboo structure.

Refrigeration system :
The refrigeration cycle in the compression system is most widely used system of refrigeration consists essentially of: 1)The expansion device for the throttling of pressure reduction effect. 2)The cooler or the evaporator for the vapourisation and cooling effect. 3)The compressor in which the compression of the vapour to the optimum pressure is effected. 4)The condenser wherein the compressed vapour of the refrigerant is liquified.

The low cost big size cool chamber has been designed and constructed with a double brick wall having cavity filled with river bed sand. The bottom of the chamber is provided with four Ducts which are submerged in wet sand. The floor the chamber is made of wooden planks with provision of the entry of fresh air through the duct. An exhaust fan has been provided at the top of ventilation purpose. The trial with big size cool chamber showed that It could bring down the temperature by 8-10 c.

Big size cool chamber :

Night time cooling :

In some parts of the country there are significant differences between night and day temperatures allowing night time ventilation to be a good sources of cold.

High altitude cooling :

High altitude can also be a source of cold. air temperature decreases by 10 c (18 F) every 1km (0.62 miles) increase in altitude. It is not possible to bring this air down to ground level because it naturally heats up as it drops in altitude.

Thank you