Pressure air cooling chamber for unitized vegetable loads

Abstract

A cooling chamber for drawing down freshly picked and field warmed unitized (for example in cartons stacked on pallets) vegetables, such as cauliflower, is disclosed. Freshly picked cauliflower is placed in rectangular cartons in side-by-side stacks of four extending approximately fourteen cartons high. A group of individual pallets (typically 10 to 12) so loaded are typically placed in the field on a transport chassis and brought to the vicinity of the cooling chamber where they are simultaneously unloaded by a multi-pallet forklift truck. The chamber receives multi-pallet load through an open door and is inserted into the chamber. This chamber has a rear seal which conforms to the periphery of the load and defines in the interstitial volume between the chamber backwall and load a warm air return plenum to forced draft refrigeration apparatus. The load when placed within the chamber has a door closed to form an air-tight seal. At the same time, this door forms an interstitial volume between the load and door for a high pressure cool air plenum from the forced draft refrigeration apparatus. Circulation of forced and cooled air occurs for rapid draw-down of the palletized vegetable load to a curing temperature. Thereafter, and upon cooling of the load, opening of the door followed by removal of the load occurs. There results an apparatus and process for rapid vegetable cool-down in an isolated and portable chamber.