R1270 chillers help fruit growers offer fresh fruits at lower costs&nbsp;

In the past 6 years packaged air-cooled chillers adopting the hydrocarbon refrigerant R1270 have been installed to several fruit growers in UK, Ireland and the USA. The chillers’ performance especially in assuring long-term preservation of quality and the flavour of fruits, whilst having minimal energy consumption is praised by fruit growers.

R1270 chillers have a proven economic track record in terms of capital costs, and reduced energy consumption, making them one of the preferred technologies among fruit growers. The chillers have helped its installers to increase demand for fruit from the leading supermarket groups.

Fruit growers confirm the performance of natural refrigerant chillers

The R1270 chillers have fully demonstrated their advantages in keeping fruits fresh with rewarding results experienced by the fruit growers. Fruit growing companies such as Lake Breeze in the USA and Mansfield’s Fruit Farms both have both reported positive experiences after using the SRS (Secondary Refrigerant Systems) incorporated in R1270 Frigadon chillers.

Features of the Mansfield Fruit Farms installation:

Even fluid temperatures across the coils, no ice, no defrost;
Narrow TD of 2.5°C across the coils;
Minimal quantity of primary refrigerant;
Enhanced COP (Co-efficient of Performance);
Minimal product dehydration, no shrinkage;
Apples can be maintained in a perfect condition for 6 months plus;
Reduced service & maintenance costs;
Lower than predicted energy consumption;
Removal of risks associated with brazing on site;
Minimal CO₂ emission installation.
Comparison: Copper v ABS & PE plastic pipe line services:

CO₂: Copper: = 370W/m²K;
CO₂: Plastic: = 0.2W/m²K.

Economic solutions enable long-term preservation of fruits

In the hydrocarbon chillers R1270 is usually used as primary refrigerant and Hycool as a secondary refrigerant. Hycool potassium formate is food safe and biodegradable and is used as circulating heat transfer fluid to rapidly remove heat in the product field.

The ‘OCD’ (Off Cycle Defrost) method also assures low energy consumption during long-term storage of fruit. The ‘OCD’ method for storage of apples at +2ºC eliminates the need for expensive forced defrost as it allows the fluid temperature to rise, thus effectively melting the ice from within the coil with minimal disturbance to the pre-existing temperature and humidity balance.

Thus, such systems can assure the long-term preservation of fruit quality and flavour. In the UK, several installations operate at low temperatures of -0.5ºC for the long-term storage of pears, with minimal energy consumption.

Increased cooling capacity of hydrocarbon chillers

The range of Frigadon hydrocarbon refrigerant R1270 chillers has now been extended to cover capacities between 29 to 400 kW at +7°C flow temperature and 15.6 to 280 kW at -8°C flow temperature. Another range of R1270 packaged air-cooled LT chillers has also been developed. The LT chillers have now been extended to cover capacities between 2.4 to 100 kW at -31°C flow temperature.