Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of Cold Storage System

 ABSTRACT
A portable cold room storage was developed. The system was tested with different types of perishable crops under different temperatures. The system is made up of two units, one, the evaporating unit that is where the produce was stored; it is made up of steel material with 79mm by 45mm in length and breadth. While the second unit is the trolleys, the system consists of a control switch that is calibrated to suit any type of produce stored in the system. It contain a separate basement which consist of compress or, 1/6 cooling fan 1/6 connected together into the evaporating unit. This system was also constructed with lagging material which consists of A and B formula called polytherine. The ambient temperature was 35o which have temperature range between30. The electricity power requires running the cold room storage system is 220 to 250v. Hence, the system is effective for the storage of perishables at favourable conditions for every home.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstracts

Table of contents

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       Need for cold storage of Agricultural Products                                             1

1.1       Definition of storage                                                                                       2

1.2       Flavour and Nutrition value of Agricultural products                                   2

1.3       Economics Important of cold Storage                                                            3

1.4       Objectives of the Project                                                                                4

1.5       The Scope of the Project                                                                                4

1.6       Justification of the Project                                                                              4

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Development of Cold Room Storage for Fruits and Vegetables                          5

2.1       Harvest, Handling and Transport of Fruits and Vegetables                           7

2.2.1    Harvesting Principle of Fruits and Vegetables                                               7

2.2.2    Handling of Fruits and Vegetables                                                                 7

2.2.3    Transport of Fruits and Vegetables                                                                8

2.3       Storage Guidelines for Food and Vegetable                                      8

2.4       Conditions of Cold Storage for Fruits and Vegetables                      9

2.5       Indoor Storage of Fruits and Vegetables                                            12

2.5.1 Temperature Management for Fruits and Vegetable                            13

2.5.2 Chilling Injury for Fruits and Vegetables                                             13

2.5.3 Freezing Injury for Fruits and Vegetables                                            14

2.5.4    Storage Mix for Fruits and Vegetables                                              14

2.5.5    Operation and Maintenance for Fruits and Vegetables                      15

2.6       Hygiene Procedure for Cold Storage Structures                                16

CHAPTER THREE             

Material and Method

3.1 Modified area on the cold storage                                                            19

3.2 Description of the Cold Room Storage System.                                      20

3.3       Designed Consideration                                                                     23

3.3.1    Cold Storage system                                                                           23

3.3.3    Power Requirement for cold storage system                                      24

 3.3.2   Capacity of the storage system                                                           24

3.3.3    Power Requirement for cold storage system                                      24

3.4       Design Calculation and Analysis                                                       24

3.4.1 Capacity of the Cooling Chamber                                                         24

3.4.2    Heat transfer Analysis of the System                                                 25

3.5 Materials Selection Consideration                                                           26

3.5.1 Strength                                                                                                 27

3.5.2 Durability                                                                                               27

3.5.3 Rigidity                                                                                                  27

3.5.4 Thermal Properties                                                                                27

3.5.5 Food safety                                                                                            27

3.5.6 Availability of Materials                                                                       28

3.5.7    Gas Selection                                                                                      28

3.6       Installation procedure and assemble                                                  28

3.6.1    Application of the Installation                                                            28

3.6.2    General Operation                                                                              29

3.7 Working Principle of Cold Storage System                                             30

3.8       Cost Analysis                                                                                      31

3.8       Cost Analysis                                                                                      33

3.8.1 Source of Material                                                                                 33

3.8.2 Sample Preparation                                                                               34

3.8.3 Experimental Procedure                                                                        34

3.8. Output Parameter                                                                                     34

 CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1       Results                                                                                                37

4.2 Discussion                                                                                                39

4.2.1 Discussion on Average Weight and temperature of samples both       

            in         cold storage and at ambient condition                                    39

4.2.2 Discussion on Physiological weight loss of samples                            40

4.2.3 Discussion on temperature against time interval in cold storage and  

            ambient condition                                                                               40

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1       Conclusions                                                                                        46

5.2       Recommendation                                                                               47

            References