Cold preservation of meat products

Meat itself is not a living organism but it is subject to endogenic enzymatic activity, or proteolysis, which causes muscle tissue to mature, become tender and develop a typical taste. This process is retarded by cold. Due to its chemical composition which is rich in proteins, lipids and water, meat is a particularly favourable substrate for the growth of microorganisms. The lipidic content also makes it very sensitive to oxidation. Healthy animals, hygienically slaughtered after resting and fasting, provide a practically aseptic meat. However, following slaughter the evisceration and dressing operations inevitably produce microbial contamination in depth and especially on the surface, through contact with equipment, tools, hands and clothes, despite all precautions. Again, micro-organism growth is a temperature-dependent process. To avoid it, it is absolutely essential to reduce the temperature of the meat, especially on the surface, immediately after dressing. Cooling must therefore be carried out in the slaughterhouse itself. This operation is known as primary chilling. Meat loses weight through surface evaporation. This process depends on differences in temperature and relative humidity between the meat and the environment. Slaughter operations and carcass dressing separate the parts of the animal which have distinct histological properties and are intended for different uses. The carcass itself incorporates mainly muscles, bones, fat and connective tissue. The offal includes some edible organs, while some glands are used in pharmaceutical preparations. These different parts must be subjected to varying cooling conditions according to their susceptibility to microbial growth, to temperature effects and to the risk of surface dehydration.

CHILLING
To prevent or even to reduce the deterioration process, particularly microorganism development, chilling has to be carried out quickly after carcass dousing at the end of the slaughter process and the chilled state has to be maintained until the meat is processed for consumption. Chilling can be defined as the fundamental operation in applying cold to meat to reduce its temperature quickly. This is done in a cold chamber with intensive air draught or movement. Rapid cooling of the meat surface not only slows and nearly stops the development of surface micro-organisms but also reduces weight loss and discoloration of the surface owing to haemoglobin oxidation. Different systems of primary chilling are in use (including immersion in iced water, especially for poultry) but air chilling is the most common. The cold chambers where chilling takes place must have a low air temperature, a high air speed, a high relative humidity and a high refrigerating capacity.

Air temperature must be in the region of 0C, with no decrease below -1C, which could freeze the meat surface and impair its appearance. Air speed can range from 0.25 to 3.0 m/s. However, for economical reasons the most common speeds in use are from 0.75 to 1.5 m/s in the empty section of the cold chamber. Air speed over the carcasses will be much higher because of the reduction in air circulation. Increased air speed reduces the cooling period but it has a limit as there is a threshold above which fan-power consumption increases more than the chilling rate, resulting in an increase in operational costs. Also, the higher the air speed the greater the weight loss. Relative humidity during the chilling operation should be kept fairly high to prevent excessive weight loss. The recommended rate is between 90 and 95 percent, though this is the most difficult factor to control. Primary chilling is completed when the warmest point of the carcass has reached a temperature of about 7C (3C for edible offal). With current technology these temperatures can be arrived at in 1624 hours in small carcasses and in less than 48 hours in large carcasses (centre of the hind leg). Average and surface temperatures are obviously much lower, reaching 0C on the surface within four hours; this is important to slow microbial proliferation. Quick chilling has its problems, cold shortening being the most common. Cold shortening can often be seen in beef and mutton, when the meat, still in its pre-rigor phase, reaches temperatures of 10C or lower. These conditions cause irreversible contractions of the muscle tissue which toughen the meat even after prolonged ripening. Quick primary chilling also signifies an increase in investment and higher operational costs. The chilling period can be reduced by lowering the air temperature (surface freezing risks) or increasing air speed (higher operational costs) or both. Occasionally cold chambers are refrigerated in advance to reach lower temperatures than those in operation (-5C/-6C for beef; -10C/-12C for pork), taking advantage of thermal inertia to offset the effect of warm meat loads. Quick primary chilling can be performed in small chambers or in cooling tunnels. In cold chambers it is carried out in two or three phases. During the first phase the air temperature is maintained at about 0C, carefully controlling the risk of superficial freezing while air movement is maintained at a high level. For large carcasses, after 1012 hours the air circulation inside the store is reduced, maintaining temperature and humidity conditions; this second phase lasts another six to 10 hours. After this period the meat is transferred to cold storage chambers where the carcass temperature is stabilized, concluding the third phase. Small cold chambers used for chilling must be designed so their capacity can be filled in two hours at the slaughterhouse's normal work rate. The number of chambers should be sufficient for a peak working day. Particular care should be taken that warm humid carcasses are placed behind those already chilled or in the process of being chilled so that the air, which is still cold, reaches them and there is no risk of superficial condensation.

Cooling tunnels used for chilling meat are usually of the continuous type. Here again meat is subjected to a two-phase process, with conditions similar to the cold chamber. However the temperature can be as low as -5C for a short time. Beef carcasses can reach an average temperature of about 15C in a four-hour period, while pork and mutton reach the same temperature in two to two and a half hours. Surface temperature decreases to 45 C. During the second phase, conditions are less exacting, and an average temperature of about 4C is stabilized after 1516 hours in a secondary refrigerating chamber. This method is used in high-capacity slaughterhouses particularly for pig carcasses; for beef and mutton slower cooling is recommended because of the dangers of cold shortening.

CHILLED STORAGE
Stored chilled meat is mainly intended to serve as buffer stock between production and shipment and/or consumption. During storage, ageing (ripening) of the meat also occurs, progressively increasing tenderness and developing taste through the proteolytic activity of meat enzymes. Ageing depends on temperature and can be accelerated by increasing it, but for hygienic reasons it is recommended that 4C be used with a relative humidity of 85 95 percent. In these conditions ageing takes place in a few hours for poultry, two to four days for pork, four days for mutton and two weeks for beef. It can thus be considered as complementary treatment only for the last two products. When chilled meat is stored for long periods a lower temperature without the risk of freezing should be used; normally 0C is a reasonable choice, though (as shown in Table 1) conditions differ according to the type of meat. A temperature of about 4C is used in butcher shops (for final ageing, due to the difficulty of maintaining lower temperatures as the cold store rooms are small). Relative humidity is between 80 and 90 percent, which is a compromise between weight loss and microbial development; 80 percent is normally used for carcasses and quarters, and 8590 percent for small meat cuts. The preservation of edible offal requires different conditions: -1C rather than 0C and a relative humidity close to saturation to avoid surface blemishes. Organs intended for therapeutic purposes, such as thyroid, pancreas, ovaries, pituitary and so on, must be frozen immediately to preserve their active principles. Table 1 gives the maximum storage time in which the products can be kept safe and keep their commercial quality during the subsequent marketing period, even if this is short and in favourable climatic conditions. However, there is wastage and some loss of quality and nutritive value when a meat carcass is stored for the whole period indicated in Table 1. It is therefore recommended that the storage time should not exceed by much the ripening period required for the different types of meat. Air circulation inside industrial chambers should be at a rate of 2035 times per hour the volume of the empty cold room. When the chambers are used to store offal it is advisable to use natural air circulation to maintain high humidity levels.

Carcasses should be hung on rails in such a way that they are aligned in the direction of air circulation, avoiding contact with each other (see Figures 1 and 2). Whenever a new product at a temperature different from that of the store is placed in store the product should be distributed around the room rather than concentrated in one place.

INCOMPATIBILITIES
In many countries a deficient cold chain and insufficient cold storage capacity sometimes make it necessary to store different products in the same room. These products may be incompatible because they require different storage temperatures or they present some risk of tainting, through the transfer of aromas from one to another. The first type of risk is not a problem with animal products as they keep reasonably well under similar temperature conditions (obviously reference is made here only to chilled storage). Nevertheless the lowest recommended temperature without risk of superficial freezing should always be used. Tainting is likely when meats or other animal products are stored with odorous fruits like oranges or apples, and the risk is more severe when there is mixed storage with potatoes. However, it is unusual to store meats with vegetables, so precautions are mainly needed when storing mixed animal products. There is some danger of cross action between beef and bacon; cheese will taint beef, mutton and pork. Tainting must be guarded against not only during mixed storage but also when using a cold chamber which has previously stored produce with a strong tainting potential. Chambers must be thoroughly cleaned before any other product is stored.

COMPLEMENTARY TREATMENT
Like the ageing of meat during cold storage, such as when butchers keep their stock at 4C and 8595 percent relative humidity, other complementary treatments are also used to lengthen the storage period, maintaining quality and reducing the risk of microbial spoilage. A modified atmosphere is one of the treatments used nowadays for animal products, though not to such an extent as for fruit and vegetables. This technology employs a gas-composed atmosphere which is different from the normal (i.e. 21 percent O 2, 79 percent N2 and minor contents of other gases). A more common complementary treatment for meat storage is the vacuum packaging of boneless meat cuts. Special extremely airtight (oxygen-tight) synthetic films have been developed which can be heatsealed after removing the air around the packed meat cut, thus keeping it practically out of contact with the surrounding atmosphere. Provided hygienic slaughter and cutting methods are used, the shelf-life of meat packed in this way and stored under 0/-1C can be remarkably extended (up to eight weeks for beef, four weeks for lamb and two to three weeks for pork), which is important for the export of boneless chilled meat from meatproducing countries. This type of packaging is widely used for shipments of dried beef and mutton.

In special cases radiation is used as a complementary treatment to extend the shelf-life of chilled meat carcasses. However, this treatment is subject to national food legislation and is not allowed in many countries. UV light (200320 nm) is also used to reduce surface microbial contamination on meat and meat products. As the cuts have irregular shapes it is rather difficult to achieve the same radiation intensity, so it is normal procedure to irradiate the most contaminated zones. Radiation intensity produced by a 30W UV lamp is enough for every 1012 m2 of floor space in a slaughterhouse or cold chamber.

FIGURE 1 Height of suspension and spacing for half carcasses on hooks

FIGURE 2 Height of suspension and spacing for quarters

Ionizing radiation is a promising complementary treatment for chilled meat preservation. Low doses of radiation are sufficient to reduce microbial contamination and the best prospects are for packaged meats which cannot be recontaminated. Ionizing radiation can also be employed to destroy trichinae (Trichinella spiralis) in pork meats.

FREEZING
Freezing is usually limited to meat to be used as buffer stock, frequently intended for export or for storage with a view to later processing. When the preservation period is longer than that acceptable for chilled meat, freezing must be used to minimize any physical, biochemical and microbiological changes affecting quality in storage. During freezing most of the water content of the meat, about 80 percent, solidifies into pure ice crystals, accompanied by a separation of dissolved solids. A product can be considered frozen when its centre has a temperature of -12C or less. To reach this temperature the product passes through the temperature range of maximum crystallization (from -1 to -5C). The speed of freezing is a very important factor as frozen meat quality depends mainly on the size of the ice crystal formed: the lower the speed of freezing the larger the size of the crystals. Slow freezing facilitates the separation of solution and the migration of water out of the muscle cells which is subsequently frozen, forming rather large crystals. Quick freezing conversely produces many small ice crystals, mainly formed within the muscle cells, and reduces water migration and separation of solution. It is obvious that the latter technology will preserve the meat closer to its original quality and, particularly during thawing, moisture loss will generally be lower. The International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) expresses the freezing speed as the velocity with which a temperature front moves through the body of the product (cm/h). Good results are attained when the speed is from 2 to 5 cm/h. Slow freezing is considered to be below 1 cm/h and quick freezing above 5 cm/h. Meat can be treated before freezing, generally being refrigerated to a chilled condition. Cutting into quarters is usual, particularly for large animals, and the fat is removed from some parts because though it prevents surface desiccation it reduces the heat transfer rate, and is susceptible to damage during frozen storage. The relationship between thickness and freezing speed favours cutting and deboning before freezing, either as lean meat packaged in cardboard boxes or cut into individual portions. This has many advantages:

the mass to be frozen is reduced by 30 percent or more; storage density is increased by 100 percent; handling operations are easier; deboning after thawing, which causes hygienic and exudative problems, is avoided.

Freezing is performed in tunnels or in chambers with intense air circulation called blast chambers. Air temperatures should be in the range of -30 to -35C; sometimes -40C is used. Air is circulated at high speed, from 2 to 4 m/s and up to 6 m/s. An air circulation coefficient of 150300 is used inside freezing chambers. Relative humidity is maintained at 95 percent or above.

In these conditions half beef carcasses or quarters are frozen in about 16 20 hours, cut-up meat in cardboard boxes measuring 543416 cm in about four hours and small prepackaged cuts in about one hour. Small boxes and cuts, particularly of offal, are sometimes frozen in surface contact freezers (plate freezers): the product is pressed between two metallic plates cooled by direct expansion refrigerant. For items 35 cm thick, freezing time is as low as two to three hours. After freezing carcasses and quarters must be protected with plastic film, usually under cloth or jute fabric. Meat cuts are covered with plastic film, or vacuum-packed in plastic bags; they are placed inside cardboard boxes and usually frozen in these. When meat cuts are prepackaged without vacuum, air pockets must be avoided. A 2-cm space should be left in the upper part of the box to allow for expansion. Superficial fat should be eliminated before freezing to reduce the development of rancidity during storage. TABLE 2. Practical storage life of meat and meat products
Products Beef carcass Roasts, steaks, packaged Ground meat, packaged, (unsalted) Veal carcass Roasts, chops Lamb carcass Roasts, chops Pork carcass Roasts, chops Ground sausage Bacon (green, unsmoked) Lard Poultry, chicken and turkeys, eviscerated, well packaged Fried chicken Offal, edible Practical storage life in months -18 C -25 C -30 C 12 18 24 12 18 24 10 >12 >12 9 12 24 9 1012 12 9 12 24 10 12 24 6 12 15 6 12 15 6 10 24 6 12 9 12 12 12 6 4 24 9 24 12

From: Recommendations for the processing and handling of frozen foods, International Institute of Refrigeration, Paris, 1972.

CONDITIONS OF FROZEN STORAGE

Meats properly frozen are transferred from the freezer to storage chambers where temperature, relative humidity and air circulation should be adequate and can be tightly controlled. In particular fluctuations in temperature must be kept to a very narrow time interval.

As there is a certain degree of quality deterioration, even at very low temperatures, storage life is limited. The usual temperatures are in the range of -18 to -25C for periods of preservation of one year or more. However, each type of meat requires specific conditions. Table 2 gives some approximate data regarding these. The higher the relative humidity the better: a range of 9598 percent prevents meat dehydration. For frozen meats and other animal products storage incompatibility is low. The temperature level needed in the chamber is similar for all of them, and tainting is negligible owing to the low temperature and to the fact that most of the products are in adequately protective packages. The main problem with frozen storage is deterioration in organoleptic quality. There may be changes in meat texture, fat can become granular and crumble, and there can also be some discoloration of the meat. Fat modification induced by air oxygen produces rancidity and acidity, and a disagreeable taste. Microbial enzymes also remain active, especially those that attack the fat. As in chilled storage, there are also weight losses through evaporation. This can be seen as freezer burn, i.e. superficial desiccated areas which can occur even in packaged meats when the packaging film is loose and temperature fluctuates inside the chamber. Weight loss, which can be between 1 and 4 percent in unpacked meat, favours organoleptic deterioration. The surface of the meat grows dry and porous, encouraging rancidity and transfer of aromas. In addition, the area of surface sublimation of frozen meat is very large: 12 m2/t for beef quarters, 11 m2/t for pork and 20 m2/t for mutton.

PRACTICAL STORAGE LIFE (PSL)

PSL is the storage period from the time of freezing for as long as the product maintains its organoleptic and nutritive characteristics and is suitable for human consumption or for further processing. PSL relies on high quality raw material, good industrial practice, including hygiene, and the use of a reasonably constant temperature. PSL is therefore clearly dependent on PPP factorsproduct, processing and packaging. Processing refers mainly to preliminary treatment and the freezing operation. Slaughtering, dressing of carcasses, preliminary chilling, cutting and deboning, and prepackaging of small cuts, must be conducted hygienically and by skilled labour. In addition to personal hygiene, and cleaning and disinfection programmes in slaughterhouses, chilling facilities and cutting rooms, particular care should be taken when cutting and deboning and packaging, keeping contamination of the meat to a minimum. Carcasses should preferably be cut while hanging or on regularly cleaned surfaces, with tools frequently sterilized during operation and the meat stored in clean containers. The packaging material should be of good quality and clean. Packaging is intended to preserve products from microbial contamination, from dehydration and from environmental factors that affect quality and nutrition. The materials used, besides

being specifically for food, must be chemically inert and prevent the transfer of foreign odours or flavours. They must be stable at low and high temperatures, elastic, tearresistant, and proof against water vapour, oxygen and volatile substances. They must offer protection against light, particularly UV light. Moreover they should be adaptable to different automatic packaging systems, of an appropriate size and shape for easy storing and distribution, and ready for opening. Plastic films and papers and cardboard lined with plastic film are often used. For special packaging, different plastic films can be combined to take advantage of the main properties of each. Plastics of interest to the meat industry for cold storage are:

polyamide (PA) polyethylene (PE) polyester (polyterephthalic acid ester) (PET/PETP) polyvinylchloride (PVC) polyvinyliden chloride (PVDC).

There is a daily quality loss in frozen meat storage that is cumulative, i.e. the total quality loss through freezing, storage, transport and distribution can be calculated by adding the losses at each step of the process. The tolerance of a product to a fixed temperature and time storage can be determined and expressed in figures. Figures or graphs representing practical storage life in different conditions can be established through time tolerance and tolerance (TTT) studies. These are run at at least three temperatures, around those normally used for storing the product under test (-18, -25 and -30C for instance) and show the quality relationship to timetemperature conditions. As temperature fluctuations highly influence the final quality of the frozen product, its refrigeration history should be known. This together with the TTT characteristics of the product will allow the residual storage time to be calculated. The rotation of stock throughout the cold chain should be organized according to the first infirst out (FIFO) rule: the first lots to be stored are the first to be unloaded.

THAWING
Thawing is another critical phase in the freezing process as it involves a change from ice crystals to melted water, which is reabsorbed, and microbial reactivation. If heat is applied to the frozen product its surface becomes warm enough to transfer heat to the inside and create conditions of temperature and humidity suitable for microbial development. Low temperature thawing, below 5C, reduces the risk of microbial growth and produces a slow thawing rate which guarantees efficient reabsorption of the melted water. It is recommended that carcasses be thawed at 4 to 6C, in a hanging position and without any covering (plastic or jute is removed), inside a cold chamber with a reasonably low level of air circulation - about 0.2 m/s. Relative humidity must be kept low at the beginning (70 percent) to avoid frost forming on the meat surface, with an increase at the end of the

thawing period up to 9095 percent. In these conditions thawing of beef carcasses lasts about four to five days and of smaller carcasses one to three days. It must take place in installations specifically designed for this purpose. Offal is not particularly influenced by the manner of thawing, but it is advisable to follow the same method. Thawing is considered finished when the temperature of the meat is about 0 to -1C. When frozen meats are further processed they may in some cases be used directly in the frozen state. The consumer can start cooking small prepackaged cuts without prior thawing. New quick thawing systems that satisfy hygienic requirements are now being used in the meat industry. Rapid thawing tunnels for carcasses, microwave ovens and tunnels and vacuum steam-heated autoclaves are some of the novelties. Thawed meats deteriorate quickly and must be kept at about 0C and consumed as soon as possible. Obviously a badly conducted freezing operation and/or frozen storage period (which includes transport and distribution) with irregular storage conditions will produce disorders in meat which become immediately apparent after thawing. Exudation indicates histological damage by ice crystals; other undesirable changes have already been mentioned.

Planning of cold storage

A cold store essentially consists of a number of refrigerated chambers which are able to chill, freeze and store any perishable product. Certain general substructural conditions must be fulfilled to construct a cold store successfully: site selection for easy access by road and train; terrain of good mechanical resistance and without problems of surface water; good supply of potable and industrial water and electricity; drainage facilities. As well, the local availability of labour (technical personnel, skilled labour for maintenance and general labourers) should be investigated. Although a cold store is essentially an area where products are preserved, plus a site for the machinery room, it is obvious that complementary spaces are necessary: office, laboratory, public services, toilets and cloakroom, spare parts room and workshop, and packaging material storage. Some other services may be found annexed to a cold store, such as cutting and deboning, salting, meat products manufacture, packaging, and a sales office. Before planning a cold store it is important to define operational and technical specifications. These are strictly dependent on products, stores, storage conditions, environment, energy and personnel. The publication Guide to a refrigerated store (IIR, 1976) includes an exhaustive checklist worthy of use at this planning stage.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENTS

The general features of a cold store operational programme (products, chilling and chilled storage, freezing and frozen storage, cutting, deboning and packaging, stocks, daily movements) include total capacity, number and size of rooms, refrigeration system, storage and handling equipment and access facilities. The relative positioning of the different parts will condition the refrigeration system chosen. The site of the cold chambers should be decided once the sizes are known, but as a general rule they should be in the shade of direct sunlight. The land area must be large enough for the store, its annexes and areas for traffic, parking and possible future enlargement. A land area about six to ten times the area of the covered surface will suffice. There is a general trend to construct single-storey cold stores, in spite of the relatively high surface: volume ratio influencing heat losses. The single storey has many advantages: lighter construction; span and pillar height can be increased; building on lower resistance soils is possible; internal mechanical transport is easier. Mechanical handling with forklift trucks allows the building of stores of great height, reducing the costs of construction for a given total volume. The greater the height of the chambers the better, limited only by the mechanical means of stacking and by the mechanical resistance either of the packaging material or of the unpackaged merchandise. In fact chilled meat carcasses, which cannot be stacked, limit the height of the chamber as they are hung from rails (see Figures 1 and 3). Chilled quarters and cuts can be mechanically handled for storage without stacking (see Figures 2 and 4). The length and width of the chambers are determined by the total amount of merchandise to be handled, how it is handled (hanging from rails, forklift trucks), the number of chambers and the dimensions of basic handling elements. FIGURE 3 Storage of carcasses on hooks

There is no advantage in building many chambers of a small size, particularly for meat products. Thermal and hygrometric requirements are not so strict as to justify a lot of rooms: the accuracy of the measuring instruments and the regulation of conditions inside the chamber always produce higher deviations than those of ideal storage conditions for different products. This is particularly true for frozen products. Chilled meats of different species (beef, pork or mutton) can be stored in the same room as they do not present temperature or tainting incompatibilities. Frozen meats have even less problems. Stores for refrigerated products are usually more divided and often of lower height than those for frozen goods. A design that opts for fewer, larger chambers represents in the first place an economy in construction costs as many divisional walls and doors are eliminated. Refrigeration and control equipment is simplified and reduced, affecting investment and running costs. Large chambers allow easier control of temperature and relative humidity and also better use of storage space. Only in very particular situations should the cold store be designed with more than five or six cold chambers. FIGURE 4 Stacking in racks

Store capacity is the total amount of produce to be stored. If the total volume of the chambers is filled, the quantity of produce by unit of volume will express storage density. Several parameters must be defined within a cold store. The total volume is the space comprised within the floor, roof and walls of the building. The gross volume is the total volume in which produce can be stored, that is excluding other spaces not for storage. The net volume represents the space where produce is stacked, excluding those spaces occupied by pillars, coolers, ducts, air circulation and traffic passages inside the chambers

that are included in the gross volume. Storage density referred to as net volume is expressed in kg/useful m3, but is most commonly referred to as gross volume. An index of how reasonably and economically the cold store has been designed is the gross volume divided by the total volume. It must be in the range of 0.50 to 0.80. Similarly gross volume is about 50 percent greater than net volume, and gross area (same concept as volume) is about 25 percent greater than net area. The extent of occupation is the ratio between the actual quantity of produce in storage at a given moment and that which can be stored. Equally the extent of utilization is the average of the extent of occupation during a given period usually a year, but it can also be per month.

MANAGEMENT
The operation of cold rooms must take into account the storage requirements of the produce, rules for loading, maintenance and hygiene, and the running and maintenance of the refrigeration equipment. The loading plan will depend on the type of cold chamber, whether it is for preliminary chilling, for chilled storage or frozen storage. Preliminary chilling, which is done in the slaughterhouse itself, depends on the slaughtering rate as this determines the amount of meat to be chilled hourly. To avoid keeping the store door continuously open, freshly killed warm carcasses are separated into lots and introduced into the chilling chamber every half hour, for instance. Carcass movement inside the store should be designed in such a way that warm and wet meat faces the air from already chilled carcasses. Overhead rails must be placed so carcasses are oriented in the sense of air circulation, and to prevent them from touching each other. It is sometimes advisable to divide the total chilling capacity among a few chambers, computed on two hours' slaughtering, when the capacity is high enough (1040 t/day). Another option for high slaughtering capacity (over 40 t/day) is the continuous chilling system, where carcasses pass through a chilling tunnel transported by a mechanical conveyor for two to four hours and are then put in a cold chamber to undergo final chilling. Chilling facilities should be systematically emptied after chilling and before preparing for the following day's production. Already chilled carcasses are placed in a refrigerated store. The storage rooms should be at least equal in capacity to the chilling rooms.

If fresh meats are intended for quick distribution they should not leave the chilling facilities until the temperature of the warmest point is below 7C, meaning an average temperature of about 2C. The storage density of carcasses on hooks is dependent on the spacing of the rails, the height of suspension and the size of the carcasses, and very little on the unit weight of the carcasses. Figures 3 and 4 show details of carcass disposition and loading plans. Tables 3 and 4 give some data on storage densities. Meat is frozen in full carcasses, or in halves for small and medium-size animals and in quarters for large animals. The disposition of meat in a freezing chamber or tunnel is similar to that in the chilling operation. However, frozen meat is not stored hanging from rails but loose on the floor, on racked pallets or in boxes when it is cut up and/or deboned. Figure 5 gives a diagram for loading on pallets for long-term frozen storage and the correct system for loading. Table 4 gives some useful data on stacking densities for frozen meat. TABLE 3. Density of storage of hanging carcasses
BEEF. Weight: 300 to 400 kg in half-carcasses hanging from a high-level rail Height of rail from ground 3.80 to 4.00 m Point of hook 3.00 to 3.40 m perpendicular to the track (3 half-carcasses per linear m, separation of tracks) parallel to the track (2 carcasses on the same track) separation of tracks - in quarters, height of rail 2.60 to 3.00 m Point of hook 1.90 m above ground perpendicular to the track: - 4 quarters rear - 4 quarters front separation of tracks parallel to the track 400 kg/m 3.00 1.00 m mean of 200 to 250 kg HORSE parallel to the track separation of tracks VEAL. Weight: 45 to 80 kg - hung on 4-toothed, with extension, or 3 veal by the tibia 2 to 3 veal per truck 135 to 240 kg/m 435 kg/m 1.00 m 450 to 600 kg/m 1.00 m (minimum) 430 to 500 kg/m 0.90 m (minimum)

separation of tracks - hung bar with hooks 1 to each 2 hooks number of hooks MUTTON (or lamb). Weight: 15 to 30 kg - on extension (4 mutton 15 to 20 kg in a circle of 0.70 m) - on hangers (3 to linear m) - in groups of 8 superimposed carcasses separation of rails - on special aerial chassis with 10 hooks (10 carcasses/linear m) separation between bars bars with double hangers bars in relation to the wall bars grouped in lots for the despatch hall PORK. Weight: 80 kg - on a runner, with extension, with 4 hooks - 4 carcasses in a circle of 1.00 m separation of tracks - separately hung on a runner with gambrel-separator 3 to 5 carcasses/m. Separation of tracks - on hangers, carcass per hook separation OFFAL These are on wall hooks spaced at 125 mm or disposed in tubs of 30 litres. hung on bars, wall hooks, superimposed, mounted on trucks on the ground

0.90 to 1.00 m (min) 70 to 120 kg/m 3/m

85 to 115 kg/m 45 to 90 kg/m 290 to 400 kg/m 0.80 m 150 to 300 kg/m 1.40 to 2.00 m 0.50 m 0.50 m 0.50 m

400 to 600 kg/m 300 to 400 kg/m 1.00 m 250 to 400 kg/m 0.90 to 1.00 m 100 to 150 kg/m 3/m

250 to 300 kg/m2

From: FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 19/2, Rome, FAO, 1984.

TABLE 4. Density of storage of meat products

PRODUCT UNIT PACKAGING Nature Size (cm) Mass PALLETIZATI ON Pallet size STACKING STORAGE DENSITY Nett mass Effect Gross vol.

Numb Pallets/s Sta Nett Volu er tack ck ma me/

PALLETIZED STORAGE

Gro Ne ss tt (kg) (k g)

(cm)

packa ges/ pallet Per Numb er layer of layers 48 611 3 3

heig ss/ stack ive Accessibility ht stac (m3) volum (m) k e (kg) (kg/m Poor( Good 3 ) 10 (2 rows) rows)

Meat frozen

box woode bone n d fibrebo ard carc ass

6436 19 6032 15

1001 27. 25 20 5 23 1001 20 1001 20 172 1001 20 270

5.1 2 0 400 6.171 5.7 4 7.087 0 554

390 640

230 380

125 200

beef hindquarters on palletwith racks on corner posts beef hindquarters hanging on point with racks on corner posts

15 8

2 2

3.5 2 9.487 6 400 5.4 1 7.087 0 280

250 180

150 110

80 60

Meat fresh

carc ass

NONPALLETIZED STORAGE Meat frozen bone box d woode n fibrebo ard 6436 19 6032 15 25 23 570 790 460 630 370 510

2.5

carc BEEF hind or forequarters with 10 ribs ass forequarters with 5 ribs PORK in half-carcasses pork loins MUTTON in whole carcasses POUL fresh in baskets TRY froze GAME n in boxes

320/3 260/2 210/2 50 80 30 280 220 180 350/3 280/3 230/2 80 00 50 350/4 280/3 230/2 20 40 70 230/2 180/1 150/1 40 90 60 150/2 120/1 100/1 00 60 30 250/3 200/2 160/1 50 80 30

From: FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 19/2. FAO, Rome, 1984.

Fresh chilled meat carcasses are not wrapped, but small meat cuts are usually prepackaged under vacuum which favours stacking as the small packets are stored and handled inside rectangular boxes or cartons.

Frozen carcasses and quarters are enclosed in polyethylene film and a cotton stockinette to protect against soiling and contamination; in this way they can be stored in piles or pallet boxes. Frozen small cuts are prepackaged like chilled cuts. Meats packed in boxes and frozen meat on pallets are usually stacked. Stacking methods and height depend on several factors: resistance of the package, handling techniques and thermal state. The resistance of the package dictates the total weight the lowest can support. Carcasses of frozen meat can be stacked in bulk to heights of 810 m. When stored on pallets the height of the pallet load for carcasses can reach 1.9 m (Figure 6). Pallets can be equipped with corner supports of detachable metallic framework, placed around the load and transferring the weight from the upper pallet to the lower. Packaged and frozen meat is usually handled mechanically, combining forklift trucks with pallets. Besides the rapidity of operation (1020 t/h per truck) and the great height of the stacks, any part of the stack is easily accessible, which reduces the need for lateral gangways. With mechanical handling pallets are easily moved within the store. A layout plan for palletization should be drawn up to control loading and stocks and each cold chamber should have a control table (see record sheets in the annex) by which any pallet or stocked product can be identified.

AIR CIRCULATION AND CHANGES

Conditions for air circulation in completely filled chambers or tunnels have been given in Chapter 2 for chilling, freezing and storage. However, a cold room takes some time to fill (six to seven hours for primary chilling rooms) so for part of this time it is only partly filled; nevertheless air circulation must be correct. To maintain the circulation of air in a partly filled room the stack alignment must be perpendicular to the direction of air movement and the stacks placed close to the cooler. Fans must be operating when the refrigeration system is running and it is advisable to stop them only during the defrosting period. Two-speed fans should be used to adjust to air circulation needs in the room. Stacking must follow exactly the layout prescribed, respecting loading limits and allowing space between the stacks and walls, and below the pallets. FIGURE 5 Store loading plan

Correct system for alley loading is 1, 2, 3 The palletization layout plan must take account of distances between store elements. They are in the range of 510 cm between pallets, 1520 cm along the walls and a stacking limit of 4060 cm below the ceiling. The gangways for forklift truck circulation depend on the type of truck, but are in the range of 2.15 to 3.0 m.

Air circulation inside the store is expressed by the air speed (m/s) through an empty crosssection of the store and also by the chamber coefficient of air circulation, which is the number of times the air equivalent to the total internal volume of the empty chamber passes through the cooler in one hour. Both are obviously related, but the latter is more commonly used for chambers than for tunnels as it gives a clearer idea of air movement. FIGURE 6 Forklift truck moving carcasses

Air change refers to replacing the air inside the chamber with clean external air, thus avoiding an accumulation of undesirable odours or volatile components. Air changes need not be considered in frozen storage as frozen produce does not give off odours but it must be taken into account for chilled products, particularly if they are mixed. It is especially important for meat products that the external air comes from a clean source, with no noxious components, and it should be passed through a filter fine enough to retain at least dust. Air should be changed as seldom as possible as any change disturbs the storage conditions and increases running costs: the external air has to be dried and cooled and the frost deposit increased on the evaporator. The outside air should be cooled and dehumidified before entering the chamber, or it should at least go immediately over the cooler. It is possible to calculate the volume of introduced air required to reduce contaminant concentration to a safe level but in general it should be equal to five times the volume of the room to reduce contaminants by 99 percent (although it has been claimed that if this volume is less than eight to ten times the volume of the room the dilution of contaminants may be incomplete). Air change can be achieved in a small room by opening the door, but this is a cumbersome method, alternating with brief periods of running the refrigeration machinery to restore

storage temperature. For large rooms of over 1 000 m 3 it is necessary to employ fans to induce change and drive the outside air over the cooler. It follows that every time the cold store door is opened an air exchange is generated by inside and outside air density differences. Although this exchange is sometimes beneficial, when the door is open too long or the type of product stored does not need air purification it clearly becomes an extra running cost and has to be prevented.

UNLOADING COLD ROOMS

When products leave the cold room there is a risk of condensation of atmospheric humidity on the cold surfaces, making them wet and liable to microbial development. This can damage the packaging materials or spoil their appearance, which can sometimes be irreversible if carton or cardboard packaging is used. Condensation occurs when the dew point of the ambient air is higher than the surface temperature of the product or its packaging. At this point it is necessary to take some precautions, such as proceeding on a progressive rewarming pattern, or promoting quick evaporation of the moisture formed by introducing slightly warmed dry air, or covering the product with awning or, finally, using packaging materials that resist the adverse effect of the moisture. The graph in Figure 7 shows how to calculate if there is any risk of condensation when moving a product from storage to a different ambient temperature. For efficient management and stock control, any unloading operation must obviously be written on the control table for the chamber, including all relevant data (see loading and unloading record sheet in the annex).

HYGIENE AND DISINFECTION

Cold chambers intended for meat chilling and chilled storage must be kept in a strictly hygienic condition as microbial invasion is a grave risk. The following operations are essential:

immediately eliminate all waste in a cold room; each time a room is emptied, or after rewarming rooms at low temperature, wash floors and walls with detergent and hot water, rinse them with clean water, and spray with a solution containing active chlorine (0.3 percent); clean pallets and storage containers every four months; disinfect chilled storage rooms for 48 hours at least twice a year and frozen product rooms when they are emptied; before storing animal products in rooms that have contained strongly odorous fruits and vegetables, deodorize by washing, prolonged ventilation and finally spraying with a solution containing ammonium salts.

Hygiene must be maintained after storage, during transport and distribution. Transport over long distances should be in refrigerated vehicles, which must be cleaned and disinfected after every day's duty. FIGURE 7 Conditions for condensation on the surface of cold produce

From Recommended conditions for cold storage of perishable produce. International Institute of Refrigeration, Paris, 1967.

HANDLING METHODS AND EQUIPMENT

There are two very distinct systems of meat handling. The first is for carcasses or large cuts during chilling and chilled storage. The meat is hung on overhead rails of appropriate height, which can be pushed by hand or can be mechanically transported. The latter is more

common in continuous systems and high-capacity stores. The second method uses forklift trucks and is employed for frozen meats of different shapes, chilled or frozen packaged cuts in geometrical containers and even chilled carcasses of small animals or quarters of large animals. These are hung from specifically designed crates (see Figure 6) which can be stacked in the same way as pallets. Internal transport must be rationally linked to that used for the reception of goods and for distribution. When the chilling and chilled storage facilities are annexed to a slaughterhouse the type of rail and the height of chambers and doors are planned accordingly. The design of the chambers must take into account the supporting rails and beams, adapting the coolers for good air circulation. The distribution of rails inside a chamber must allow for easy control of turnover with as little handling as possible. The number of rails and their location are dependent on the room's stock rotation, but keeping in mind that the length of storage for chilled meat is usually rather short. For pallets and similar stacking elements the layout of the chamber is based on the pallet module, including the size of the pallet, tolerance of air circulation and ease of manoeuvre. Different lot sizes may require different spacing of gangways. Pallets, which can be made of different materials, are becoming standardized, the most usual dimensions being 0.801.001.20 m. The shorter and longer dimensions can be increased by 5 and 15 cm respectively to set up the recommended pallet module. Stacking width is influenced by the width of the gangway and the length of the pallets. The width of the gangway depends on the forklift truck used and the depth of the pallets depends on stock rotation the slower the rotation the deeper the pallets. Pallet stacking depth is three to four pallets for a high rotation and seven to eight pallets for a low rotation. FIGURE 8 Types of pallet used for forklift truck handling and stacking

Several layers of boxes can be used on a pallet, the number being determined mainly by the mechanical resistance of the packages and their shape for ease of piling. Five to six layers are usual and sometimes seven are possible. The number of pallets in a pile is also dependent on the mechanical resistance of the packages and on the type and reach of the forklift truck used for stacking. A stacking height of two to four pallets is the most common, but for large stores with a low rotation up to five pallets would be suitable.

To avoid any problem of box resistance, fixed racks made of suitably resistant material can be installed in which pallet loads can be placed by the forklift truck (see Figure 9). The only inconvenience, besides higher installation costs, is that they occupy a fixed space. When it is necessary to save most of the space occupied by the gangways it can be worth installing movable racks, though installation is rather expensive. FIGURE 9 Rotating truck operation

There is a trend toward the total automatization of stacking systems, combined with computer-controlled stock direction and checking; obviously the increased investment costs must be taken into account. Forklift trucks can be powered electrically, by LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) or petrol. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Petrol-operated trucks emit dangerous fumes so they are not recommended for meat cold stores. LPG-operated trucks produce moderate fumes and are noisy; their only advantage over electrically operated trucks is that they are faster. Electrically operated trucks need their batteries recharged every working period or alternating batteries when operated for long periods.

Automatic transmission is essential so the trucks can be started and stopped accurately, and also for exact placing. Automatic transmission is incorporated in all modern machines. Special trucks are used in cold stores where space saving has resulted in movement problems. Rotating and retractable trucks (Figure 9) are an example, but their cost ranges from twice to four times that of a normal truck. Sometimes conveyors are used for internal transport, as they are less expensive than trucks. As with overhead rails, they are useful for continuous transport with no crossing traffic.

DESIGN
The distribution of the cold store and its flow pattern are determined by their relation to the rest of the operations and the sequence they have to follow. There are some essential points to be considered. A cold store basically incorporates a reception room, where fresh meat is received and inspected at a controlled room temperature between 8 and 12C, dispatch and holding rooms at about 24 C, and one or several cold chambers for meat and offal at appropriate storage temperature. It may incorporate a cutting and deboning room at a temperature between 8 and 12C, a packaging room and a sales room, both with a low temperature and dew point at about 5 to 7C. For freezing and frozen storage there are freezing tunnels or rooms at temperatures ranging from -30 to -45C, and frozen storage chambers at a temperature to suit the intended storage period. General requirements are a machine room, offices and cloakroom. The main objective in designing a cold store is to avoid unused space, so the location of labour premises, offices, etc., must be considered when filling up gaps. Cold chambers will face directly either the holding room or the cutting and packaging room. Corridors for traffic should be reduced to a minimum. The use of large anterooms kept at an intermediate temperature between ambient and storage is now obsolete, but these may be of interest in hot and humid climates to avoid condensation on the product. The location of the machinery room is of paramount importance. It should be as close to the cold rooms as possible and especially to the cooling equipment. This is one of the design difficulties to be resolved if future extension is planned. The room must be readily accessible from outside. The width of the corridors will depend on the normal traffic. If it is heavy, corridors will be designed for two-way truck movement - one-way is possible only when two trucks do not cross during transport operations. Corridor width ranges from 2.00 m for one-way to 3.60 m for two-way traffic. Width is also affected by the size of the forklift truck, i.e. the load it is able to transport, within the range of 1 to 3 tonnes. The general trend is to build traffic corridors which are wide enough for two loaded trucks to pass, even when unit loads occupy part of them while waiting for handling. In normal operation areas a width of 45 m is recommended.

In one-way corridors any right-angle turn that might prove difficult for truck movement should have the width increased. Figure 10 gives some basic measurements that concern the manoeuvrability of the usual type of forklift truck. Door dimensions must be in relation to transport, the type and size of forklift truck and the width of the traffic corridor, if this is not wide enough for a right-angle turn the door must be sufficiently wide to allow an inclined entrance. Door width for mechanical handling ranges between 1.80 and 2.10 m. Carcasses laid on pallets need a 2.50 m door and up to 2.80 m when the corridor is not wide enough for a 90 degree turn. FIGURE 10 Manoeuvrability of forklift trucks

Door height will be determined by the height of the load: the pallet unit is usually from 2.20 to 2.80 m for normal trucks and up to 3.30 m for high stacking trucks. As height favours the entrance of warm humid air when the door is open, it should be kept to a minimum. With carcass handling door height is obviously dictated by overhead rails and the mechanism that opens and closes the doors. Door must be thermally isolated to the same extent as the walls. The insulation is placed within a rigid frame which can withstand tough handling without distortion. The doors must

close tightly against the framework, exerting high pressure on a dense elastic rubber-strip filling with a very regular contact surface; the closing system must be strongenough to press the door against the strip and keep it in that position. For cold rooms at temperatures below 0C the strip must be electrically heated to avoid ice accumulation. Although there are different ways of opening doors (rotating on hinges, sliding horizontally or vertically), the type most used in cold rooms is the one that opens horizontally. For quick opening and closing (in the range of few seconds) doors should be mechanically or pneumatically operated. The opening is activated by a photo-electric cell or more commonly by a switch pull placed close to the door which can be operated by the driver without moving from the truck. An automatic controller fixes the time necessary to pass through the door and closes it. FIGURE 11 Air curtain and flexible plastic doors preventing thermal exchange

Every time a door opens an intense exchange of inside and ambient air takes place. When openings are frequent the heat and humidity loads in the cold room may be high, considerably increasing refrigeration and frost deposit on coolers. To reduce air exchange,

flexible transparent plastic doors, transparent swinging doors or air curtains are used. The first two types need constant maintenance as they often break when undergoing heavy duty; in addition they come in contact with merchandise and labourers' clothes, which is hygienically dangerous. Some precaution in design will help to reduce air exchange. The number of doors should be reduced to a minimum and they should be for one-way traffic; they should not be placed opposite each other, and should face away from prevailing winds. The air curtain system consists of a powerful blower, usually sited above the door, which induces a strong horizontal or vertical air draught (Figure 11). This causes dynamic pressure which balances the density effect of the inside cold air and prevents cold air leaving and warm air entering the store. The capacity of the blower depends on the door size. For instance, for a door 2 m high the air flow should be 1 500 m 3/h, and for a 4m door about 3 000 m3/h. The angle of the air jet depends on the temperature difference between the cold store and the corridor. As a guide the angle will range from five to 15 degrees; the greater the temperature difference the higher the angle. The efficiency of the air curtain system is considered to be between 60 and 70 percent.

LOADING DOCKS
Loading docks ease the handling and transfer of pallets to and from the cold stores and transport vehicles, so most stores are provided with loading/ unloading docks adapted to road or railway transport. For road transport the problem is to determine the height of the dock to correspond with average vehicle height: for trucks it will be about 1.40 m, but for distribution vans it will be as low as 60 cm. Moreover when the vehicle is loaded or unloaded its height changes, and this is particularly awkward when the forklift truck has to enter it. Levelling facilities will adjust the dock to any vehicle height; the dock and truck platform thus corresponding at any time of the loading/ unloading operation (Figure 12). Docks for railway transport can be built to a standard height. The length of a loading bank should allow the simultaneous handling of an adequate number of vehicles; it will depend on the size of the cold store and its rotation of stored produce, which also influence the depth of the bank. The minimum recommended depth is 6 m, but one of 810 m is considered to be more suitable. Loading docks are usually under cover, sometimes simply an extended canopy open all around and sometimes enclosed with a surrounding wall and doors. The choice of open or enclosed docks is mainly influenced by climate and the handling system employed. Enclosed docks are usually cooled and they should be used where temperature and humidity are high, and when the merchandise is handled excessively with a long exposure in conditions that are very different from those of storage. Any delay in transfer from trucks to cold store in an open dock is obviously more detrimental than in a cooled enclosed dock.

Cooled loading docks must be insulated and are equipped with a refrigeration system; the floor should be heated to prevent condensation. FIGURE 12 Dock levelling system

The height of the canopy is determined by the height of the store doors plus the mechanisms above the lintels for door opening and/or air curtain. Where for economy of handling two pallets are superimposed for transfer to the cold store, this unit load height will decide the free height of the loading dock roof. Cooled dock doors should be equipped with a perimeter cushion seal to adjust the rear of the truck to the loading door, reducing the cold air leakage. This system is usually provided with a displacement mechanism which, together with the levelling device, will ease handling and the maintenance of the loading dock temperature (see Figure 13). Part of the loading dock is sometimes utilized to house offices, cloakrooms and, particularly, a supervisor's room for the direct control of the handling operations as efficient direction in loading is essential. Battery changing facilities may also be built into the dock at a point which does not interfere with traffic; adequate ventilation should be provided to prevent gas accumulation. When the temperature of a cooled dock is very exacting warming rooms for personnel are incorporated in it. FIGURE 13 Docking facilities

Another solution for covering the loading dock is to locate the administrative offices above it. Good insulation of the office floors is necessary when the temperature of the enclosed dock is low.

TRANSPORT
The transport of meat in a chilled or frozen state must be undertaken at a controlled temperature so as not to exceed the threshold that encourages microbial development or starts thawing or recrystallization in frozen meats. Transport vehicles are classified in three categories: insulated, refrigerated and mechanically refrigerated. Insulated vehicles should be used only for short distances and for short periods of distribution when not much door opening is involved. Both types of refrigerated vehicle are employed for long hauls. Ice, solid carbon dioxide and eutectic mixtures add enormous weight to the load to be transported, reducing the space for merchandise. The same is true of the liquid nitrogen refrigeration system for long journeys as the dead weight of the cylinders containing liquid nitrogen will be too high. Only mechanically refrigerated vehicles should be considered at present for long-distance transport. Insulation should be thick enough to give low values for the overall heat transfer coefficient without reducing load space. For warm countries reinforced insulation leading to an overall heat transfer coefficient under 0.4 W/m2C is recommended. To reduce transport time and cope more easily with vehicle movement to and from cold stores large traffic areas are recommended. The size of the forecourt of the loading docks

will depend on traffic and the size of the trucks, but it should be at least 35 m wide when high traffic is expected and trucks can line up at right angles to the dock. Trucks with an overhead rail should be used for carcass transport. Rails should be standardized to ease transfer from the cold store to the truck, eliminating additional handling. Chilled carcasses must not be piled on the floor. FIGURE 14 Meat processing plant flow sheet, including freezing, cutting, deboning, packaging and storage

Hygiene is vital in meat transport. Vehicles must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected immediately after unloading or at least before loading. Floor, walls, racks and hooks must be faultlessly clean. Interior finishing should be washable and waterproof. Offal must be transported in hermetic containers made of material that is easy to clean. Poultry should be packaged individually.

LAYOUT OF SLAUGHTERHOUSE AND CUTTING ROOM

The slaughterhouse and cutting room, together or autonomously, are closely related to cold storage chambers so they condition the general layout of the industrial plant. When they are integrated, the design is more complicated, due to the many possibilities of flow pattern. FIGURE 15 Plant distribution for a general store

After dressing and dousing, carcasses will generally pass quickly to chilling rooms or tunnels. As they do not enter the chilling room continuously a certain area should be provided where carcasses can be accumulated; its surface will depend on the killing rate and the chilling programme. The doors of the chilling rooms will open on to this area. There may be only one chilling room in small slaughterhouses and from two to four in others; the total capacity must suffice for peak day slaughtering. After four hours in the chilling room carcasses will move to the storage rooms. Storage capacity will be at least equal to that of the chilling room or higher if some buffer stock is expected. The number of rooms can be reduced depending on total capacity, the meat distribution programme and whether the cutting room is incorporated in the slaughterhouse.

Part of the already chilled meat may be utilized for cutting and packaging, or deboning and packaging, and part for freezing. The distribution programme will indicate the average quantities for these different treatments and these will determine the capacity and size of the different sections. Meats processed in the cutting and packaging rooms may be distributed fresh or chilled, or be frozen for frozen storage or transport to other frozen storage centres. One loading dock enclosed and refrigerated to a temperature low enough to prevent surface thawing, about -10C, can handle the shipment of all types of cuts and boxed meats. Chilled carcasses and quarters will be shifted by overhead rails and chilled package cuts and frozen meats will be handled on forklift trucks. Figure 14 is a flow sheet explaining the functioning of the meat complex and Figure 15 suggests the layout.

Refrigeration equipment
Internal storage conditions in the meat cold store are characterized by three factors: temperature, humidity and air circulation rate. These are governed by functioning refrigeration equipment and can be modified by changing the operating conditions of that equipment. Changes in operating parameters can be made to achieve different storage conditions or to counteract naturally occurring variations in external conditions. The refrigeration plant has to rely on sensing elements to control internal storage conditions that reflect any deviation and on command mechanisms that can be activated to offset the alerted change. Sensing elements and command mechanisms are linked either manually, with operators periodically taking readings of the sensing elements and accordingly activating the command mechanisms, or automatically, usually when an electric signal from the sensing element activates the command mechanism. Between these two extremes of regulation there are some intermediate operating methods. Within the sensing, command and functioning circuit of a refrigeration plant there are many elements, mainly electric (relays, disjunctors, contactors), which are not specific to refrigeration equipment but they must be familiar to the maintenance personnel for effective troubleshooting. Automatic refrigeration is somewhat more complicated than manual as it has to incorporate certain devices for the easier handling of the refrigerating fluid (refrigerant). Generally speaking the physical conditions (temperature, humidity, and to a certain degree air speed) established in any determined area of a cold chamber are not strictly constant over a period but oscillate between a superior and an inferior value, these changes recurring periodically in a somewhat regular pattern. This cycle can be divided into two periods: during the first the refrigerant distribution equipment functions, and eventually the refrigerating installation; in the second period this installation is off-cycle. This on-off operating mode is usual in conventional refrigerating plants.

Each physical condition to be controlled has its own peculiarities so it would be useful to look at each one in detail.

TEMPERATURE
Temperature distribution inside a cold chamber is one of the most difficult features to control. As the temperature differs in the various parts of the chamber its distribution depends on correct design, on the stacking patterns chosen and on air circulation rate. The space (and product) temperature is directly controlled by locating the thermostat in the interior space of the cold room (or on the product itself, but this is not the case for meat products). However it may be controlled indirectly by clamping the sensor of the thermostat to the evaporator so that the thermostat controls the evaporator temperature. The former method is indicated where close control of the space and product temperatures is necessary, as in chilled meat storage. The second method is better when it is necessary to ensure total defrosting of the evaporator, even if fluctuations in temperature are minor. It is employed for operations above freezing. When the temperature is controlled by a thermostat or similar device the sensor element must be placed in such a way that it controls a temperature close to the average temperature of the chamber. To determine this position ordinary thermometers are distributed inside the chamber and, after a few readings, the point with the most representative temperature is easily located. When the temperature in the cold room has reached an equilibrium with the stored produce (which may take from one day to a week), the temperature of the air is practically equal to that of the produce. Heat dispersal through the floor and walls influences the temperature distribution inside the store; an appropriate insulation thickness and correct installation will favour even distribution. If in spite of this insulation differences in temperature in the store become quite extreme, faulty stacking should be considered responsible. The thermometer or the sensor of the thermostat that measures the temperature of the micro-environment of the store should be placed at mid-height on a wall far from doors and openings, a few centimetres away from and not directly touching the surface and, whenever possible, in the middle of one of the longer sides of the room. When several coolers are used to refrigerate the chamber the sensor should be placed at an equal distance from them, usually on the opposite wall. If the temperature to be maintained is close to 0C, with a risk of freezing the stored produce, the coldest place should be chosen for the sensor, sometimes near the cooler, but in any case close to the floor. For frozen products the same principles apply, though small temperature variations are not a major problem as some large frozen storage chambers where the refrigeration plant is run continuously during the night and stopped during the day allow for a certain oscillation in temperature.

The position of the sensor and the reading and command instruments has to be such as to allow easy access even when the chamber is completely full of produce. A direct-reading thermometer (mercury or alcohol, graduated to 1/5C) should be placed beside the sensor of the thermostat to be read in the morning and evening. Thermometers used for temperature monitoring and refrigeration plant operation should be placed where temperature control is considered most necessary. However it is advisable to monitor temperatures at more than one location, particularly in large chambers. The measurement of product temperature is also recommended. Storage conditions should be verified at least once a day. The thermostat, which is the device to control room temperature, consists of a sensor (working in the same way as the thermometer) and an emissary (electric contactor) that transfers the information given by the sensor. It works on an on-off basis; modulated control is not used in refrigerating plants. The instant that the refrigeration plant must work or stop is determined by the sensor, but it gives an indication only, which is transmitted by the emissary to the electrically acting element, the compressor, for automatic operation. Thermostats control the temperature level of a refrigerated space by starting and stopping the compressor driving motor. Once the maximum temperature level is reached inside the cold chamber the thermostat closes the electric circuit that starts the driving motor, and when the minimum temperature level is reached it opens the circuit stopping the motor. These cut-out points are fixed so that the thermostat can maintain temperature conditions inside a refrigerated space. The span between the two limit values is called the temperature differential and it represents the maximum difference that occurs. As long as the temperature of the refrigerated space is kept within the fluctuation limits, the functioning of the refrigeration machinery does not change. For space temperature control, when the sensing element is located on a wall far from the cooler, the differential is ordinarily 23.5C, but sometimes for chilled produce small differentials are established (about 0.5C). When the sensor is clamped to the evaporator, controlling indirectly the space and product temperature through the evaporator temperature control, the differential used must be larger, from 8 to 10C or even more, to avoid shortcycling of the equipment. When the thermostat controls the space temperature directly its average temperature is approximately halfway between the cut-in and cut-out temperatures. Correct adjustment of the temperature differential is essential if the refrigeration plant is to operate efficiently. When it is too small there will be a tendency to short-cycle, starting and stopping frequently, which affects the working life of the equipment. When the differential is too large the on and off cycles will be too long, resulting in excessively large fluctuations in space temperature.

As well as the equipment differential the effective differential, which indicates the actual fluctuation in storage temperature, must be considered, as it is always larger due to the inertia of the machinery. Although the range of the system is defined as the difference between the cut-in and cutout temperatures, it must not be confused with the differential. The values of the temperature difference in both cases coincide but the range affects the temperature level at which the control is operating, while the temperature differential does not affect this level. The range and the differential are adjusted and controlled with only one thermostat placed in the refrigerated space, but the adjustment of one implies the modification of the other. For temperature ranges some tolerance must be allowed, taking into account that the accuracy of automatic equipment is generally in the range of 11.5C. The more sophisticated control systems use electrical sensing elements (electric resistance, thermistors) and electronic controllers, and the output of the controller is fed to a servo system to operate pneumatic or electric valves. The temperatures of the cold rooms can be recorded intermittently or continually; the reading may be either directly transmitted to the control room or checked by the supervisor who notes down the reading in each room once or several times daily. Thermometers should be calibrated annually, but sophisticated measuring systems need more frequent calibration; thus, automatic devices should be verified at least once a week. Reading points must be easily accessible and thermometers should be protected against shock. In summary, thermostats are used for automatic control of the temperature level in the cold room, their function being to start and stop the refrigeration plant by controlling the electric motors driving the compressor and the condenser fan, and also activating the solenoid valve. Maintenance will prevent the malfunctioning of a thermostat. With the pressure bellows type, if the sensing element has lost its charge it has to be recharged whenever possible otherwise the thermostat must be changed. If electrical contacts are poor owing to a worn or corroded contact point then they should be replaced, though in an emergency they can be cleaned to continue operation. Poor electrical connections must be cleaned and tightened.

RELATIVE HUMIDITY
The relative humidity in a cold room is an indication of the equilibrium between the water evaporated from the stored produce and its removal from the air by the evaporator. Relative humidity influences loss in meat weight during storage. This mass loss can be of considerable importance economically (less weight, spoiled appearance) and nutritionally. The recommended levels of relative humidity for refrigerated storage provide adequate protection against micro-organism development, but they generate a certain loss of mass

due to water evaporation that is accepted as unavoidable. Total losses are at a minimum within a relatively narrow range of relative humidity, say 8090 percent. Relative humidity inside a cold store is governed by many factors: quantity of product in store, type and method of packaging, stacking patterns, air motion, system running time, type of refrigeration system control, temperature difference, amount of exposed product surface, heat and water vapour infiltration, outside air conditions, and length of the working cycle of the refrigeration installation. Of these, temperature difference (TD) is the most important. It should not be confused with the evaporator differential; TD is the difference between the temperature of the air entering the evaporator and the temperature of saturation of the refrigerant corresponding to the pressure at the evaporator outlet. The TD of an evaporator can be chosen in function of the produce, the evaporator geometry, the operating time of the refrigeration machinery, evaporator frost deposit and the type of refrigerant feeding into the evaporator. The smaller the difference in temperature between the evaporator surface and the space, the higher the relative humidity in the cold chamber (the contrary also being true). Notwithstanding other factors the following figures give an approximate guide for TD in evaporator design to achieve the desired relative humidity when the cooler works under forced convection conditions.
Design TD (C) Relative humidity (%) 4.05.5 9591 5.56.5 9086 6.58.0 8581 89 8076 910 7570

The IIR publication Packing station for fruits and vegetables (1973) includes a table for the estimation of the relative humidity in a cold store from the air cooler surface temperature and storage space temperature. For chambers with storage capacities between 500 and 1 000 tonnes relative humidity should remain sufficiently high (about 88 percent or more) when TD is about 10C or lower. Where the capacity is below 500 tonnes there is a rapid fall in relative humidity. Obviously the difference in temperature between the evaporator and the space is directly related to the size of the evaporator compared to the amount of heat that must be removed. To increase the cooling load of a given evaporator surface the TD value must be increased, and, whenever possible, the air speed over the evaporator. Evaporators with large surface areas are more expensive and occupy more space in the store, so it is more costly to construct a cold store operating at a high relative humidity. This, no doubt, is why most cold stores present humidity problems. However, a large evaporator surface is not enough to achieve a high relative humidity. The operating efficiency of the evaporator is as important, and is influenced by design, air distribution, refrigerant feeding system, distribution and control; e.g. a constant pressure valve will avoid too low an evaporating temperature. Weight loss is not only influenced by the space relative humidity but also by air circulation and length of the operating cycles of the refrigeration machinery, which in turn influence the

relative humidity. These factors interact and are finally influenced by the design and operation of the cold store. Here is some practical advice concerning design and operation to reduce weight loss:

store at the lowest temperature compatible with the produce; keep TD low; run the fans of the air cooler under the control of the compressor unit; slightly overinsulate and keep insulation in good condition; do not plan on introducing water by spraying or sprinkling; limit the duration of storage, organizing produce rotation; keep the store 50100 percent full; avoid fluctuations of temperature in the store; limit the duration and frequency of door opening; service the door gaskets; moisten pallets and water-absorbing packages before they are stored; check the room atmosphere regularly to control irregular dehydration; wrap the produce, using hermetic and close-fitting wrapping for frozen produce.

Different procedures to control and maintain relative humidity in the store are only effective within certain limits. For instance, hermetic wrapping of frozen products may induce progressive ice growth in the interior of the package, the rate of growth depending on the storage temperature and on the range and frequency of temperature fluctuation. Ice formation can be reduced by lowering the storage temperature and temperature differential and by limiting storage temperature variations. There are ways to raise the relative humidity inside a cold room, but they are only temporary: water sprinkling or spraying; ice spraying or dusting; water vapour emission; passing air flow along a packed tower. These must be considered only as emergency or supplementary operations, as most of the incorporated water goes straight to the evaporator, uselessly increasing energy consumption and requiring more frequent defrosting of the evaporator. When using water sprinkling or packed towers to humidify the atmosphere, care should be taken that water droplets evaporate before reaching the product stacked in front of the cooler. The humidifying equipment and its control system should be incorporated in the overall air circulation system. A system capable of supplying 0.25 g of water per kg of refrigeration capacity (1 g/kcal refrigeration capacity) should maintain a relative humidity of about 95 percent. Sometimes in winter or during cold weather too high a humidity can cause problems. As the cooling equipment has to function at much less than its actual capacity working periods become very short and cycling-off periods very long; this allows the humidity level to rise and reach values that can be dangerous for the proper storage of meat. The atmosphere of the chilled storage chamber may have a relative humidity of 9295 percent or even higher during most of the off-cycle which favours bacterial growth, making the meat sticky and smelly. Excess humidity can be avoided by: dividing the evaporator into several elements; reducing the superficial temperature of the evaporator; prolonging the working time of the

refrigeration equipment; or, finally, by direct dehumidification of the atmosphere by passing it through a water absorbent. The extension of the refrigeration working period implies that some heat has to be introduced into the cold store to increase the naturally occurring heat load. This can be done by using electric resistances or dehumidifiers in small mobile units designed for cold chambers with high humidity problems. The evaporator of the equipment condenses the excess atmospheric humidity and consequently the air passing over the condenser is heated, leading to the on-cycling of the main refrigerating plant. The electric resistances or the dehumidifiers are governed by a hygrostat, though a couple of hours' daily operation should be enough to keep humidity at the desired level. The heat furnished by electric resistances represents additional energy consumption, as the heating power should be about 20 percent of refrigeration power. The small dehumidifiers on the contrary consume as little as one-fifth of the total heating power, and besides removing humidity from the air they reduce the amount of water that condenses (and eventually frosts) on the surface of the cold room evaporator. The cooling surface of the evaporator can be reduced by dividing and isolating some of the elements. This lengthens the operating time and also reduces refrigerant evaporation temperature. Both factors favour the reduction of relative humidity. The humidity level in the cold room can be measured and controlled by using a hygrostat or hygrometer; all instruments should have a fast response. There are different types of hygrometer currently in use.

Hair hygrometers. They are simple and robust but not accurate, and can be regulated between 30 and 90 percent. They are easily soiled and must be periodically checked. Main sources of failure are friction, ageing and dirt. Wet and dry bulb hygrometers, based on the temperature depression of the wet bulb. They usually consist of two gauge thermometers, calibrated to no more than 0.2C. The thermometers can be replaced by thermocouples and thermistors, allowing remote reading. Hygroscopic plastic membrane hygrometers, based on the changes of tension produced in the membrane by relative humidity variations. They are not accurate and have great tension hysteresis. Surface film hygrometers, which work on the principle that the electrical resistance of a thin film of lithium chloride, for instance, or any other hygroscopic salt, is a function of the concentration of the solution which is related to space humidity. The solution has to be regenerated periodically and is sensitive to ageing and dilution.

Hygrometers are often unstable and can easily become out of order; they are very sensitive to dust, their accuracy decreasing when dirt accumulates on the wet parts. An intense maintenance programme must be established and they must be tested periodically, using the wet and dry bulb psychrometer, keeping the wick clean and fitting the thermometer bulb tightly; the air velocity over the wick must be at least 30 cm/s. If a recording type hygrometer is used, the recording can be centralized in the control room. Automatic humidity devices that indicate and/or record must be regularly calibrated.

Careful records should be kept to ensure conditions are correct and also to gain experience in storage operation. Relative humidity at temperatures below 0C necessitates special techniques and precautions.

AIR CIRCULATION
Air is the secondary refrigerant that removes heat from the produce and its surroundings and carries it to the evaporator where it is cooled and discharged again into the refrigerated space. Heat, both sensible and latent due to water vapour condensation, is absorbed by the evaporator surface. Air movement inside the cold chamber serves two main functions: first, the atmospheric temperature and relative humidity are homogenized to keep them reasonably uniform; second, evaporator efficiency is improved, in that the heat transfer coefficient is increased as air speed rises above it. Air movement may be enhanced by differences in air density, known as natural convection, or may be promoted by mechanical action which is called forced convection. Fans or blowers are used to control the air speed in the chamber and also over the evaporator. An air circulation pattern is established inside the cold room, the evaporator being the focal point, while the rest is governed by smaller forces that direct the air as it moves through the stacking and recirculation spaces. The uniform quality of air circulation is determined by measuring the differences in temperature, for instance, in distinct zones inside the cold chamber itself. The smaller the difference the better the air distribution. When using forced convection systems, uniform atmospheric conditions depend on the air being dispersed with reasonable consistency, and if the circulation pattern involves much horizontal travel the product stacking design and the air flow pattern should be compatible. Stacked rows of produce sometimes serve to regulate the air flow by creating a uniform resistance all across the room without interfering with circulation. The air circulation pattern is dependent on several factors: fan air flow; devices for distribution and suction; quantity of stored produce and stacking patterns; insulation efficiency; dimensions and shape of the chamber; external ambient temperature; pressure differences due to air flow; operating condition of the evaporator and frost accumulation. From this it can be seen that the circulation pattern changes according to the moment of the operating cycle and the state of the evaporator surface. Air distribution in the cold store can be achieved via ducting or by using long-throw fans. The throw of the air delivery must be sufficiently farreaching to ventilate adequately all points of the cold room; when the space is too large for one evaporator unit to maintain adequate distribution several units should be strategically allocated inside the room. There are two ways to install ducting. For each air cooler an individual duct is fitted beneath the ceiling of the cold room, occupying part of the store space, or ducts are located behind a false ceiling and/or floor. The other solution is to build a false ceiling over the entire ceiling

area into which all the air coolers discharge; the air is thus distributed over the whole cold store area. Installing the air distribution system behind the ceiling has the advantage of recessed lights, thus avoiding projections, and a trim appearance which facilities cleaning, but above all the assurance that air distribution follows the desired pattern. The main disadvantage is the high cost of installation and operation. The proper operation of air distribution through ducts requires a good ducting design, correct installation and regular maintenance. Free air jets with high air velocities and horizontal throw are used nowadays as they have proved to be efficient without being costly if they are properly installed with enough space between stacks. The main problem is that the system relies on a restricted air passage and sometimes on low velocity of air leaving the evaporator. It is clear that the most important factor in air distribution, no matter which system is used, is the stacking pattern. An air channel width of about 10 cm must be respected in the direction of main air flow. The crosswise distance between stacks is not so important. There must be no obstacle between the ceiling and a level tangential to the lower air outlet, allowing the formation of the jet flow pattern. If the stacks are intended to regulate air distribution, the pallet rows must be perpendicular to the sense of air movement, particularly when the chamber is partially filled, and the first stacks introduced should be placed close to the evaporator (see Figure 4). The air circulation in the cold room must be correct no matter the state of loading. If the stacking pattern requirements are all met and the temperature still remains too high in certain positions, the reason is most probably an insufficient supply of cold air. This can be overcome with higher air velocity flows. It is difficult to establish an actual value for the air circulation speed or the flow to be moved by the fans to achieve an adequate distribution in the cold room. A theoretical coefficient has been defined to be used as a guide for chamber draft design. The rate of air change is the ratio between the air volume passed through the cooler every hour and the total volume of the empty chamber. For chilled storage rooms a rate of air change between 20 and 30 can be used as a reference, and from 40 to 100 for chilling chambers. In frozen storage values from 40 to 60 are suggested, 50 being a normal value: the smaller the chamber the higher the coefficient. The rate of air change is inversely related to the temperature differences between air entering and air leaving the cooler, so in freezing chambers where temperature differences are as low as 1C sometimes 200 recirculations per hour are possible. For chilling and freezing tunnels the mean air speed in the zone where the product is placed is the characteristic factor which defines air distribution. In quick chilling tunnels the air speed must be about 2 m/s, measured in the empty section. For freezing tunnels the speeds are slightly higher.

The air velocity through the evaporator should be about 3m/s to achieve high overall heat exchange coefficients. The rate of air is not controlled inside storage rooms as air distribution should always be the same. Chambers used both for chilling and chilled storage will need two different rates of air circulation, so several two-speed or manually operated fans should be installed. As air circulation must be effective in any situation, short circuits of air should be prevented by furnishing the fans with shutters that open when the fans start operation. When a system of forced convection produces air velocities below 0.25 m/s natural convection tends to take over. In storage rooms fans must be in operation when the refrigeration machinery is running, even though during off periods a natural circulation pattern is established; this takes some time to overcome the fan action. Fan control is of the on-off type, activated by a thermostat controlling the room temperature. In chilling rooms and tunnels air circulation must be permanently maintained as a sufficient supply of cold air to the product surface is necessary to sustain adequate chilling or freezing rates, independently of air or evaporator temperatures.

EVAPORATOR DEFROSTING
Whenever the evaporator operates at temperatures below 0C a layer of frost is deposited on the exchanger surface, increasing its thickness with time. Frost, a solid phase, is the result of moisture condensation and solidification which is deposited by the air circulating in the store space. Moisture originates from produce water evaporation, from atmospheric moisture load as the outside air has a higher moisture content (closing and/ or sealing devices must be periodically and thoroughly checked), and from personnel working in the cold store, though this load is negligible. Frosting-up of the evaporator is inevitable despite all the normal precautions (adequate air circulation rate to minimize desiccation of produce; efficient thermal insulation and water vapour barrier; good quality gaskets on doors; short periods of door opening and personnel handling in the store; cooled air locks correctly designed for humid climates). Frost deposit on the evaporator first reduces the overall heat exchange coefficient because of the thermal resistance of ice and secondly hinders air circulation. Both cause a deterioration in the performance of the evaporator and of the refrigerating installation. The decrease in the heat exchange makes the compressor work for longer periods, and also lowers the refrigerant boiling temperature. Both factors increase energy consumption. Further, the temperature of the frosted surfaces diminishes, increasing the relative humidity in the chamber. Regular defrosting of the evaporator is necessary because equipment performance deteriorates with increasing thickness of ice, primarily affecting the free passage of air

through the evaporator coils. First the method to supply heat to the evaporator to melt the ice has to be decided, then the optimum defrosting frequency must be found. There are several ways to defrost an evaporator. Occasionally more than one can be used simultaneously.

Mechanical defrosting. Frost is removed by scraping the evaporator tubes- used only on exposed tubes. Thermal defrosting. Heat to melt frost is supplied from either inside or outside the coil tubes. Internal heating by hot gases, hot liquid refrigerant or hot brine. Heat is transmitted to the frost by the metallic mass of the evaporator, achieving defrosting without total melting of the ice. External heating by air, water, electricity or antifreeze solution. Heat is transmitted to the outside layers of ice, melting progressing from the outside to the coil tube surface.

Hot gas defrosting is used for direct expansion systems. High-pressure hot refrigerant vapour discharged by the compressor is circulated through the evaporator, which acts as a condenser, and the latent heat of the vapour is absorbed by the melting frost. The refrigeration circuit is inverted. The system is complicated but often used because of its efficiency; it is recommended for relatively high-capacity installations. The compressor must be in operation but the fans are stopped. Defrosting by hot liquid refrigerant is employed for industrial refrigeration installations with several evaporators. The evaporators are defrosted in succession by the hot pressure liquid which is subcooled before entering another evaporator. Only sensible heat is involved in this operation, and liquid temperature cannot be lowered below 0C. Heat exchange is low, demanding long defrosting periods. Melting ice heat is recovered. Hot brine defrosting, once employed for secondary circulation systems, is no longer in use. Air defrosting can be used only in chilled chambers at temperatures above zero, 2C or higher. The temperature in the room must be allowed to rise to 34.5C but this sometimes represents too high a fluctuation of storage temperature. Fan operation is continued to accelerate heat exchange. The method is simple but seldom used in industrial installations as it presents serious difficulties: products close to the evaporator receive a direct flow of humid air, frequently carrying water droplets; air circulation is maintained for long periods and this leads to mass losses; the efficiency of defrosting is very low. Water defrosting is achieved by spraying water on to the evaporator by means of a grid of tubes placed above it. Not only melted ice but some flakes may drop on the collecting tray, so care must be taken to ensure the drain is not blocked. Pipes and surfaces should be correctly sloped down, avoiding bending the pipes which could form a siphon. The water feeding pipe must not be in direct contact with the evaporator. This is a simple method, mainly used in industrial installations operating at temperatures close to or slightly below 0C. However, there are some drawbacks. Water consumption is high (some 810 kg of

water per kg of ice; warm water from the condenser is sometimes used to reduce this quantity) and defrosting heat is not recovered. Electric heat defrosting, though included in external heating methods, supplies heat by electric resistances located around the evaporator tubes or even inside them, provided that enough electric insulation and tightness is assured. The simplest method consists in placing electric resistances close to the evaporator tubes. Electric defrosting has the advantage of being simple and is readily controlled automatically. The installation cost is not high but it is costly in energy. The main inconveniences of the system are that energy is not recovered and that the quality of the electrical insulation of the equipment must be very good. It is suitable for all types of installation but it should be restricted to small-capacity equipment. Antifreeze liquid defrosting utilizes water solutions of ether or propylene glycol to keep the evaporator surface continuously free of frost. This method has the advantage of maintaining a high and constant overall heat transfer coefficient. As the antifreeze solution absorbs moisture its concentration will gradually decrease; to regenerate it heating is necessary. The heating of the solution means a considerable increase in the heat load. Other inconveniences are the possibility of solution being splashed on produce at the rear (this can be prevented by installing dampers) and pollution from the solution, which demands a periodic change. This method is recommended for low temperature evaporators which must be constantly preserved without frost, such as in continuous freezing equipment. Defrosting is an expensive operation which uses the energy incorporated in the cold store, and the lower the storage temperature the more the heat load of the store is affected. Nevertheless, as equipment performance deteriorates with increasing ice thickness it is necessary to defrost periodically. An optimum defrosting frequency must be established. If the frequency is too low the heat transfer coefficient and air circulation deteriorate and equipment efficiency decreases. If the frequency is very high the thermal load increases and the total efficiency of the system is reduced. Optimum frequency must be established by trial. One easy way is to measure the duration of the cut-in of the thermostat; when the evaporator has no frost this time is minimal. Defrosting is necessary when the cut-in time increases about one third, all other conditions being equal. The trial should be conducted when the room is in thermal equilibrium, for instance when the plant is closed. The periods between defrosting may be relatively long in dry climates but they will be much shorter in equatorial regions. They are also longer in summer than in winter. Natural convection evaporators need to be defrosted only once a day, starting the defrost cycle usually around midnight and continuing for several hours. Forced convection units with finned coils should be defrosted at least once every three to six hours. Defrosting can be conducted automatically or manually when the frequency is low. Automatic defrosting is controlled by a clock-timer or a programmer that functions during

fixed periods at regular intervals. The clock-timer method is simple and accurate, the only inconvenience being that the frequency has to be modified according to external conditions. To reduce the heat load during defrosting the cooling unit should be completely isolated from the cold room during the operation (body covered by 45 cm insulant; suitable shutters on the air intake and delivery openings). Careful consideration must be given to the location, trapping and heating of drain lines. Pipes and traps should be insulated and lagged with heating lead.

CONDENSERS
Condensers are basically heat exchangers in which the refrigerant vapour is cooled and liquefied after compression. The evaporator heat load plus the heat of compression are released into the atmosphere via the condenser by means of a fluid (normally water) or by air: condensers can be cooled by water or air. The choice of the cooling medium is difficult. The availability and nature of the water supply is of paramount importance in this decision, as water is an excellent heat transfer medium with a very high heat capacity. Condensers can be classified into three main groups: water-cooled, evaporating and aircooled. Water-cooled condensers can work on an open-circuit basis. After passing through the condensers the warm water runs to waste. In a closed circuit the warm water is cooled and recycled through the condenser again. Open-circuit condensers are used when the refrigerating plant is close to a source of abundant and suitable water. Sea water is appropriate as it rarely exceeds 18C (in some areas it might reach 24C). However, it carries a high biological load which may obstruct the piping, and special precautions have to be adopted to prevent corrosion of the equipment. Port water supply presents the additional risk of spilled oil pollution. River water and to some extent lake water undergoes big temperature fluctuations, from freezing point up to 25C in summer. The most common type of water condenser used in an open circuit is the shell and tube condenser, but vertical multitubular condensers are recommended for countries where the water is very hard and cleaning is often necessary because they are much easier to descale and dismantling of the condenser is not required, nor is cycling-off of the refrigeration plant. The main drawback is their considerable height, and they are also prone to corrosion as, besides the problem of salinity if sea water is used, the tubes are in contact with the air. Shell and tube condensers work at an optimum with a water velocity between 1 and 2 m/s, with a recommended maximum of 2.5 m/s, and with a water flow of about 100 litres per hour and kW of refrigeration load. This water flow must be distributed among the tubes, not exceeding the recommended speed, and employing about 22 litres per tube per minute.

Water condensers in an open circuit using water that is not hard and contains no sand, mud or biological load, do not need any servicing. If the water carries sand a large fine-mesh filter must be placed at the water inlet and it should be regularly cleaned. Hard water must be treated with a softener. The question of chemical treatement should be carefully considered, keeping in mind the convenience of adopting a closed-circuit system because the volume of water to be treated becomes important. As water availability is a common problem, closed-circuit water cooling of the condenser is extensively used. The operation is based on cooling the warm water that leaves the condenser to a temperature low enough for it to be circulated again through the condenser. This cooling is achieved by giving off heat and moisture to the ambient air by a direct transfer from water to air in special devices. Shell and tube condensers used with cooling towers and evaporative condensers are the two modes of closed-circuit operation. In the cooling tower the warm water is pumped from the condenser to the top of the tower and it cools as it falls or is sprayed down to the water basin. Cooling is achieved almost entirely by partial evaporation of the water (80 percent of cooling is latent heat removal through evaporation and 20 percent is sensible heat transmitted to the air flowing against the current). The efficiency of cooling towers relies mainly on the wet bulb temperature of the entering air. They are not recommended in warm and humid climates but operate very satisfactorily in hot and arid zones. Cooling tower efficiency can be appraised by a coefficient called tower approach, which is the difference between the average temperature of the exit water and the wet bulb temperature of the entering air. Normally the approach ranges from 3 to 6C. The higher the quantity of water circulated the lower the tower approach, but this quantity is economically limited because pumping power increases with water flow rate; there is an economic flow that balances the power demand of the compressor and the water pump, ranging from 150 to 180 litres per hour and kW of refrigeration load. Cooling towers allow a considerable saving in water consumption. Water evaporation raises the salt concentration in the circulating water. This accumulation is controlled by a purge which may be continuous or intermittent, and can be evaluated as about two to four times the water evaporated. The line of purge must derive from the warm water line leaving the condenser, close to the top of the tower. Purge and evaporated water as well as water dispersed in the circulating air must be recovered by a contribution of fresh water. Evaporating condensers are a combination of condenser and cooling tower in a single unit. Water is sprayed over the refrigerant coils and evaporates from the spray and the wet surface of the condenser into the air. The operating principles for the cooling tower apply also to evaporative condensers. They are not recommended for warm zones with a high humidity.

The total water consumption of evaporative condensers, equivalent to the water needed to compensate evaporation, drift and purge, is about 45 litres per hour and kW of refrigeration load (the proportion of evaporated water is about 3550 percent of this quantity). Condensers of this type are considerably more difficult to clean so they should not be used with hard water. The water-cooled condenser should be sited close to the evaporator; it is not affected by wind or air recirculation, but should be protected from heat from the sun and from freezing damage in winter. Dirt is not important but should be avoided. It must be installed with sufficient space for end cover removal and tube replacement. Air-cooled condensers normally operate under forced convection, using either axial flow fans, which are noisy, or a centrifugal blower, which is more costly, to move air at high speeds over the finned tube. The usual air speed is between 2.5 and 5 m/s. However, as power consumption increases with the square of air velocity, 3 m/s is considered a reasonable speed. Air-cooled condensers have some advantages over water-cooled condensers. Water consumption is nil, which is vital where water is in short supply or not available. Their efficiency is indifferent to moisture content in the air, so they are appropriate for humid climates. They are relatively simple to install and require little maintenance because cleaning is simple and rapid. However, they present some drawbacks, the most relevant being the high condensation temperature, which is usually 1520C higher than the entering air temperature. The optimum size of the condenser is computed on a condensation temperature of about 42 45C; in hot areas these levels will be at ambient temperature so the condensation temperature will rise up to 6065C or higher, at least in the hottest periods of the day. As the heat transfer coefficients are low large exchange surfaces are necessary, with obvious consequences in size and cost of equipment. Power consumption is another drawback, though it can be considered comparable to the consumption of cooling towers or evaporative condensers, as they are also equipped with fans and pumps. Good air circulation is essential for satisfactory operation, therefore confined spaces must be avoided. For this reason the general trend is to mount condensers at a high level, far from the compressor, and in a cool location that is clean, dry and well ventilated, protected from the heat of the sun to prevent air recirculation and sited to take advantage of prevailing winds, particularly during periods of maximum load. They should be close to the evaporator, and whenever possible slightly above rather than below it. The condensers should be readily accessible for cleaning and maintenance, installed on antivibration mountings to control noise and be safe from damage. Their efficiency depends on the cleanliness of the water or air side of the exchanger surface. Therefore periodical cleaning is necessary. Air condensers are cleaned by washing the tube bank with a hose and stopping the fans no more than once a month for a very dirty atmosphere. Watercooled condensers are descaled mechanically or by treatment with an acid solution. Frequency depends on the quality of the water closed-circuit systems must be washed with clear water at least twice a year.

Furred condensers raise the condensation pressure, reducing the performance of the installation. If the condenser becomes blocked there is a risk of breaking the refrigerating circuit. The condenser should be cleaned whenever the difference in the temperatures of the condensing fluid and the water entering increases above the normal value, which is usually between 5 and 10C. Efficiency also depends on the condition of the exchange surface on the refrigerant side, so precautions should be taken to prevent oil accumulation. Purging noncondensable gases which may accumulate in the circuit will improve the efficiency of the condenser. To ease systematic maintenance it is advisable to install more than one condensing unit or, if a single condenser is used, this should be divided into separate circuits. This will also help in case of breakdown. Comparing water-and air-cooled condensers, it can be said that they are similar in initial cost and also in operating costs, except when the former work in an open-circuit system supplied with cheap water and have no environmental restrictions. Condensation pressure is the parameter to control for efficient and safe operation in the high-pressure circuit. This pressure should not be excessively high, first for safety considerations and second because thermodynamically the refrigerating cycle operates less efficiently as the pressure rises, influencing energy consumption and raising operating costs. The condenser is protected against high-pressure failure by the highpressure pressostat, a device commanding compressor cycling which cycles-off whenever the pressure rises above an established level. High-pressure controlling devices are always desirable but they are indispensable when the condenser is water-cooled. It may also be necessary to regulate the condensation pressure to avoid it becoming too low, as this does not maintain a high enough pressure differential across the refrigerant expansion valve and the evaporator is fed with an insufficient refrigerant flow. To maintain a high condensation pressure, and corresponding high temperature, it is necessary to control the condenser capacity when the ambient temperature is low. This control is achieved either by reducing the flow of air or water circulated through the condenser or by diminishing the effective heat exchange surface area or condensing area. The condensing surface is modulated by retaining liquid refrigerant in the lower part of the condenser, using a valve known as a pressure regulator. The water flow in a water-cooled condenser is controlled by the water pressostatic valve, activated by the condenser pressure. When the pressure is low the valve will close in relation to the decrease, reducing the flow of water circulating through the condenser. This valve may be two-way or three-way. The latter is employed to bypass the condenser in water recirculating systems. It should be located in the water inlet pipe. For air-cooled condensers the air flow control system may cycle-off some of the fans, when there are more than one, or the air flow can be reduced with pressostatic shutters activated in the same way as the water pressostatic valve.

Condensation pressure is again controlled by regulating the air flow over the condenser, using the same methods as for the air-cooled condensers. It is possible to cut water circulation and so reduce the heat exchange and consequently raise the condensation pressure, but it is not recommended because of surface scaling, unless it is done for a long period in cold weather before condenser cleaning.

EVAPORATORS
Evaporator is the name given to any heat exchanger where the refrigerant is evaporated at low temperature and therefore at low pressure, but usually above atmospheric pressure to prevent gas and/or water vapour leakages into the low-pressure circuit. The evaporator is the element of the refrigerating circuit through which heat is absorbed from the environment that is being cooled. It can absorb the heat necessary for refrigerant vaporization either from the air (direct expansion systems), or from a liquid (usually water), or from a solution, which in the case of the meat industry is used as a secondary refrigerant, being circulated through the air cooler inside the refrigerated room. Only the first mode of operation, direct air cooling through liquid refrigerant vaporization, will be described, as secondary refrigerant plants are installed when it is necessary to accumulate reserves of cold, as in multipurpose refrigerating installations. Direct expansion involves less initial investment and power consumption is generally lower, as temperature differences between primary refrigerant and air are less than in secondary fluid systems. Air-cooling evaporators can operate under natural convection, where air movement is governed by differences in air density, or under forced or mechanical convection when fans or blowers are employed to expedite air movement over the cooler and to facilitate air distribution inside the cold room. Natural convection systems have two main advantages: no energy is needed for air circulation and the desiccation of the produce is much less because air velocities are much lower and relative humidity is high. There are obviously some drawbacks, first, in their defrosting and, second, and more important, in their low overall heat exchange coefficient owing to low air velocities over the evaporator that lead to large exchange surface areas, making them bulky and very expensive. Their cost, including installation in the cold chamber, is from three to four times that of a forced convection evaporator because the exchange surface is larger, the tube manufacturing cost is high and erection in the chamber is difficult and time-consuming. Natural convection grids can be uniformly distributed under the ceiling, leaving enough space for good air circulation (never less than 8 cm), and also along the chamber walls if there is not enough head space. Factory-built coil-and-baffle assemblies facilitate installation and can be used for almost any natural convection application. Forced convection or forced draught evaporators have been developed because the higher overall heat transfer coefficient achieved by rapid air circulation over the coils permits a drastic reduction in evaporator surface areas. Further, they have great refrigerating capacity.

Air velocities through the evaporator must be in the range of 1.5 to 3 m/s to achieve a high heat-transfer coefficient, but it should be borne in mind that above the upper limit (3 m/s) the heat created by the electric fan motor will surpass the increase in cooling capacity. Also, velocities above 3 m/s will tend to carry moisture deposited on the coils toward the produce. The throw draught must be sufficiently far-reaching to achieve uniform air circulation and an even temperature distribution in the cold store. Evaporator coils are finned tubes built to produce a large heat exchange area in a compact element. Good thermal contact between the tube and the fins must be assured (soldering, biting into the tube surface by tube expansion, securing by straightening fin flares). Fin size and spacing depend on the operation and fundamentally on the operating temperature. Fin height should usually be equal to the diameter of the tube and the fin should be thick enough to provide mechanical resistance (0.7-1 mm). Fin spacing is between 6 and 10 mm or more for chilling rooms or 15 mm or more for freezer rooms, to minimize the risk of ice block. Sometimes fins are spaced wider at the coil air inlet to act as a frost catcher to avoid obstruction of the air flow. Air conditioner/diffusers or unit coolers are a single unit consisting of finned coils, one or more fans and defrosting devices encased in metal housing. They reduce the installation cost and also obviate the need for air distribution ducts as they are mounted inside the cold room. This is also their major disadvantage because working conditions for repairs are very uncomfortable, particularly in large freezing rooms. They are ready for fitting with extra components such as two-speed fans, divisible exchanger batteries, electric heating resistances, etc. Forced convection evaporators should be placed for easy access to the units themselves and also to ancillaries like the expansion valve, defrosting equipment and particularly the fan motor. The position is decided by the capacity of the cooler. High-capacity coolers are installed on the floor along one wall; the air is distributed through several nozzles pointing in various directions. Medium-capacity units are suspended from the ceiling, distributed along the central axis of the room or along the walls. They can also be wallmounted. The flow and return of air must not be obstructed and they should be clear of the storage area. In large cold rooms several units may be mounted, one for each 500 m 3 of room volume. They should be supported in such a way that noise and vibration from the fans is not transmitted and excessive heat is not conducted from outside through the supports. Corrosion of the supports from condensation should be minimized. Evaporators fall into two categories, depending on the way they are fed with liquid refrigerant: dry or direct expansion and flooded. In dry expansion operation the evaporator receives the fluid from thermostatic expansion as a mixture of liquid and a small proportion of vapour. The refrigerant leaves the evaporator totally evaporated and slightly superheated, about 24 C above the evaporation temperature; this avoids any risk of liquid reaching the evaporator. Liquid refrigerant expansion takes place in the thermostatic expansion valve, a fluid-metering device fitted

with a thermometric sensor that is able to maintain the superheating of a moderate level of refrigerant vapour. The thermostatic expansion valve is the most commonly used device but there are others: capillary tubes for very small equipment, automatic expansors, and hand-operated valves or calibrated orifices for industrial plants operating in stable conditions. When thermostatic expansion valves are used in commercial and industrial equipment they are externally equilibrated. The thermostatic expansion valve offers several advantages: it is simple to operate, it provides relatively high efficiency of the evaporator, the risk of liquid reaching the compressor is reduced (but it should be protected by an antislugging device such as a solenoid valve situated upstream of the expansion valve), it can be used with all kinds of refrigerant fluids, and also with all types of machines. Its major drawbacks are that evaporation temperature is not constant but decreases with the temperature of the refrigerated space during the operation of the plant and this decreases relative humidity, and there is some risk of throbbing or faulty feeding of the evaporator, which is affected by the condensation pressure. The temperature difference between the air and the boiling refrigerant is usually kept in the range of 5 to 7C, which should be used to calculate the correct surface area of the evaporator. Flooded evaporators operate by a continuous pure liquid flow circulating through the evaporator, fed by gravity or by pump. The fluid leaves the evaporator as a mixture of liquid and vapour as only a part of the refrigerant volume delivered to it is evaporated. The mixture is directed to a liquid separator or surge drum from where the unevaporated liquid is fed back to the evaporator inlet. The high-pressure refrigerant is released into the liquid separator at low pressure in such a way that the level is kept fairly constant. The expansion of the fluid can be controlled by a low-pressure float-valve, a hand-operated valve, a constant flow rate or thermostatically, and today by an electronic expansion valve allowing easy adjustment of the liquid level. One of the main advantages of the flooded system is a great heat-transfer coefficient because boiling liquid completely wets the internal surface of the evaporator; the lower the vapour content at the exit of the evaporator the greater this coefficient, so it is advisable to employ pump circulation to increase the liquid: vapour ratio. The temperature difference between air and boiling refrigerant is kept in the range of 4 to 5C, which is possible because the high heat-transfer coefficients and flooding operation assure high efficiency over the entire evaporator surface. Flooded systems are usually employed in high-capacity ammonia plants and where a changeable thermal system is likely (e.g. refrigerated plants in a slaughterhouse). They cannot be used with halocarbon refrigerants because of oil problems, unless a rectifier is placed in the low-pressure circuit to ensure the return of oil to the compressor. When flooded evaporators are fed by gravity this can be achieved from a single liquid separator or accumulator that serves all the evaporators, which are run in parallel. The separator should

be of the right size to avoid liquid carry-over and a vapour velocity under 0.4 m/s should be maintained. Another gravity design has a liquid separator for every evaporator, so the number of expansion valves is equal to the number of separators. This system is used when a single separator is not enough for correct feeding to all the evaporators, as when pressure losses are excessive, and in large cold chambers and freezing and chilling tunnels. In all cases the pipes should be of adequate diameter to prevent undue pressure loss and counterslope. Pipes to and from the evaporator and separators must be thermally insulated. It is necessary to isolate each evaporator (or evaporator-separator unit) with an automatic valve (solenoid or pilot-operated valves, though the latter are rarer) placed upstream or downstream to prevent refrigerant vaporization in cold rooms where the storage conditions are already established. This is particularly dangerous in rooms where storage temperature is kept around 0C. The valves should be under evaporator thermostat control. Flooded evaporators can be fed using a mechanical pump to circulate liquid refrigerant in the evaporator-separator circuit at a rate high enough to return the fluid to the separator in a wet vapour state. The flow rate recommended to achieve a high overall heat-transfer coefficient is in the range of three to eight times the rate of refrigerant vaporization, dependent on the heat load of the chamber. The low-pressure liquid separator or surge drum is placed in the machine room and the pressure losses in the refrigerant circuit are counteracted by the pump, not by the compressor, which is useful when operating at low temperatures. All the evaporators in a single circuit should be fed in parallel using at least two pumps, one operational and one standby, isolating each evaporator with a solenoid valve under the control of the room thermostat. When these valves are closed the liquid refrigerant must be recirculated to the liquid separator. The main disadvantages of flooded evaporators are that they are usually bulky, and they require a relatively high refrigerant charge. Some care should be taken when designing a low-pressure circuit. The suction pressure should be increased as the evaporator temperature must be kept as high as possible. This is achieved by choosing the correct size for the evaporator transfer area, limiting pressure losses between evaporator and compressor by using the right pipe diameter and short pipes between them, and lastly, avoiding too frequent or too little defrosting; too little producing too thick a frost deposit. When suction pressure is unduly low it may be because of poor feeding of the evaporator or that it is not fed at all. There are several reasons for both irregular situations: the expansion valve may be obstructed, the solenoid valve may not be in operation (closed when out of order), too high a compressor capacity for the evaporator capacity (the capacity control of the compressor is not in operation or there is too much frost on the evaporator), the constant pressure valve placed downstream to the evaporator may not be correctly adjusted, or the lower pressure limit for valve closing may be too high so that suction pressure is excessively reduced.

When the evaporators in the same circuit are operating at different temperatures several compressors or a single compressor provided with capacity control must be installed for their correct performance. The evaporators operating at higher temperatures must be equipped with constant pressure valves located downstream. These can be replaced by two temperature thermostatic valves providing the same control. To prevent a delay in compressor cycling-in in relation to fluid refrigerant feeding of the evaporator it is necessary to set up an intake valve before the evaporator, served by the compressor operation. This valve obviates any risk of liquid dragging to the compressor.

COMPRESSORS
The compressor is the active element of the refrigerating circuit. It has two functions: first, to reduce the pressure in the evaporator until the liquid refrigerant evaporates to the current temperature and maintain the pressure by drawing off the vapour produced through evaporation of the liquid refrigerant, and second, to compress the vapour by raising its temperature and pressure to the point at which the vapour can be condensed at the normal temperature of the condensing media. Compressors can be reciprocating piston, rotary, screw or centrifugal. The first three are positive displacement machines and the last is a cinematic compressor. Reciprocating compressors are the most commonly used. Modern units are multicylinder, usually provided with two to 16 cylinders. This design minimizes their poor adaptation to large volume rates, which is one of their disadvantages. Moreover, they produce high compression ratios. Rotary compressors of the sliding vane type are rarely used. They are sometimes employed as boosters. Screw and centrifugal compressors are installed in very large stores and when refrigerating capacities of over 1 000 kW are required. As reciprocating piston compressors are by far the most extensively used the following section deals mainly with this type. Compressors are operated by an AC electric motor or a petrol or diesel engine, though the latter has no advantage except where there is no electric energy. When an electric motor is employed in an area with frequent power cuts, provision should be made for an electric generator capable of providing an intensity three to four times the running current. The assembly compressor and drive motor are known as the compressor unit. There are three main types, depending on the way the unit is built.

Open systems, when the compressor and the motor are easily identifiable and the operating mode is by direct or belt drive; they present the problem that the rotating shaft may not be gastight. Semi-hermetic or accessible units, when the compressor and the drive motor are mounted in the same crankcase and hence the electric motor operates in a refrigerant atmosphere. Hermetically sealed or non-accessible units, when both elements are enclosed in a completely gastight steel casing, eliminating any risk of refrigerant leakage, but making any repair in the unit practically impossible.

Open-type compressors can be used in all commercial refrigeration plants except small ones. They are particularly useful when ammonia is the refrigerant fluid. Semi-hermetic compressors are recommended for medium-capacity installations and should operate with halocarbon refrigerants. Hermetic compressor systems should be used for very small refrigerating capacities. Open-type compressor units have several advantages over the other two types, making their installation advisable particularly in large refrigeration plants where skilled labour and maintenance personnel are employed. First, the electric motor is not in contact with the refrigerant vapour so the heat dissipated neither increases its temperature nor is it discharged by the compressor. Second, they are driven by standard electric motors which are easily replaced, and even the winding can be easily repaired. Third, problems with the electric motor do not contaminate or affect the refrigerating circuit. Lastly, they are less sensitive to system contamination so the erection of the refrigerating circuit does not demand extreme care and skilled operators. To estimate the correct size of the compressors or compressor the size of the evaporators and condensers should be previously evaluated. No general rule for dividing the refrigerating compressor capacity can be established. However it is obvious that cost criteria should be followed. To help in deciding on the process some general factors must be borne in mind: compressors should be interchangeable and preferably of a similar type so the stock of spare parts can be reduced; the refrigerating plant should be provided with standby machines which are not used for any other purpose than replacing machines that are out of order; the number of compressors installed should be as small as possible but never less than three; one or two compressors should be equipped with capacity regulators (see later) and, whenever possible, with automatic regulation. In spite of all these requirements costs should be kept as low as possible. Compressors, controls, condensers and their ancillaries are usually grouped in the machine room. The location should be carefully decided on to minimize pipe runs to all sections of the cold store and so as not to impede any future extension of the refrigerating plant and cold rooms. Care must be taken not to exceed the floor load limit. The position of the compressor in the machine room should allow easy access for maintenance, repairs and possible replacement. The environment should be cool and dry in any weather conditions and be well ventilated. The machines must remain clean and be safe from damage. Compressors must be mounted on cork mats or have antivibration mounting to avoid any transmission of noise. Thus, flexible connections must be provided on all refrigerant, oil and water pipes connecting the compressor. To prevent high discharge temperatures and pressures (the higher the temperature the faster the rate of lubricating oil carbonization and the formation of acids), machines with water-cooled cylinder heads or cylinder water-jacketing should be installed, particularly in warm countries and/or when compressors operate with refrigerant fluids such as ammonia that have unusually high discharge temperatures. Lower rotational speeds should be used to keep down the discharge temperature and to increase the reliability of the machine. The current trend is to install compressors running at 950 rpm rather than 1 450 rpm. This leads to larger and costlier compressors, though maintenance and operating costs are reduced. Reciprocating piston compressors have free suction and delivery valves that operate by pressure differences, and they must be protected against liquid slugging. The compressors

also have service valves fitted to both the suction and delivery connection. These are used to isolate the compressor from the remainder of the circuit for repair and maintenance without losing the refrigerant. The delivery service valve must not be closed while the compressor is still running, otherwise some damage may occur. These valves provide a connection to the gauges that measure the operating pressures (suction and delivery), as well as a charging connection that adds refrigerant to the suction side and a purge connection on the delivery side to remove non-condensable gases and excess refrigerant. When evaluating the total heat load of a refrigerating plant the operating conditions should be such that they lead to peak heat loads, i.e. the capacity during the cooling-down period should be two to four times as high as the capacity during storage under ordinary conditions. This means that if compressor capacity is higher than the heat load on the evaporator the system is not in equilibrium and will not perform satisfactorily. To adjust the functioning of the compressor to the actual heat load it has to operate unloaded or under a reduced capacity; this operating mode reduces compressor efficiency. Some recommendations should be followed to avoid this situation. First, it is preferable to use small compressors at full capacity rather than a large one at partial capacity. Second, especially for centralized installations, compressors must be of a satisfactory size and work at full capacity for the expected heat loads. In spite of previous planning and precautions it may be necessary to regulate the refrigerating capacity more accurately, which implies regulating the compressor capacity. The compressor capacity must be able to cope with peak heat load and adapt itself to any operating condition. There are several ways to regulate compressor capacity. The simplest is to start and stop the compressor by a control element, usually a thermostat or pressostats. This operation is conducted according to a pre-established programme and is of the on-off type. Other ways of regulating capacity control are:

To vary the speed of the compressor by acting on the compressor drive. When an engine or turbine is employed to drive the compressor its capacity may be modulated over a wide range by governor control of the compressor drive. When an electric motor drives the compressor only two speeds are usually available so the compressor will work at full or 50 percent capacity, which is useful for chilling and storage rooms. At low rotation speed the compressor may not be sufficiently lubricated, which is dangerous. Two-speed electric motors are expensive. To unload cylinders in a multicylinder compressor. This method puts one or more cylinders out of operation either by depressing and holding the suction valves in an open position or by discharging the cylinder into the suction line through a bypass.

Both ways of controlling compressor capacity are automatically governed by the action of a fluid under pressure, either an oil-or high-pressure refrigerant. When the suction pressure drops below a certain predetermined value, a solenoid valve activated by pressure control opens and allows discharge from one or more cylinders (bypass control) or admits highpressure vapour from the condenser by depressing the suction valves and holding them open. When the suction pressure rises the solenoid valve is deenergized and the compressor returns to full capacity operation.

In large plants with several multicylinder compressors, capacity can be controlled pneumatically. The system is simple and convenient, particularly if the compressor is designed to be operated by a capacity regulator. Efficiency diminishes very little and there is not much heating of the refrigerant fluid. The major drawback is the reduction of the power coefficient of the electric motor. Another method also used is to unload compressor cylinders during compressor start-up by putting cylinders out of operation, thus reducing inrush current demand. When the discharge vapours are bypassed into the suction line the proportion of recirculated flow is generally kept under 40 percent of the total discharge flow. The recirculated flow can be introduced anywhere into the low-pressure circuit, i.e. from the evaporator itself to the suction line just before the compressor. Another way of controlling a compressor's capacity is by modifying its clearance volume. The volumetric efficiency of the compressor is inversely related to the clearance volume, so by increasing this volume the capacity is reduced. This control is generally achieved manually and is usually employed only for screw compressors. Screw compressor capacity is also controlled by modifying the suction volume through the action of an oil-pressure circuit. This control is continuous from 100 to 10 percent, and the power requirements are proportional to the refrigeration capacity necessary in each situation. As well, there is no heating of the refrigerant fluid. When refrigerating plants are operated at low temperature it is advisable and more economical to use a two-stage compression system, especially in high-capacity plants such as industrial freezers or large frozen storage chambers, despite the complexity in their installation and operation, as energy consumption is much less. The fluid used to cool the thermal engines (petrol or diesel) driving the compressors and the heat recovered from their exhaust gases can be employed for different heat requirements in the refrigerating plant, for instance for sanitary water. Heat recovery should be carefully considered when designing and operating a slaughterhouse.

Refrigeration circuit controls

Most refrigerating plants are automatically operated to some extent, as manual control of the various refrigerating functions is difficult and not very accurate. Moreover very skilled operators or technicians must be employed for such tasks. The following operations are more in need of automatic control than others: regulation of temperature and relative humidity in the cold chamber; feeding to the evaporator; adapting the refrigerating capacity of the plant to one heat load of the cold room at different ambient conditions; regulating condensing temperature; starting the compressor operation sequence; and initiating the sequence for the defrosting cycles. Where control is automatic safety devices must be installed to protect the equipment against malfunction. These safety devices are not only for the refrigerating system but also

for the electric circuit, though the latter concerns other specialists and is not within the scope of this handbook. When a safety device is in operation it indicates there has been a breakdown or a malfunction. It is necessary to search for the cause of the trouble and repair it before the system is restarted, otherwise the safety device will operate again and the malfunction may cause further problems. Safety devices only operate occasionally and some do not operate for long running periods. Consequently it is advisable to check periodically that they operate properly and adjust their operating ranges. These checks should be scheduled once a month for high-pressure, lowpressure and lubricating oil pressostats as these prevent any malfunction of controlled elements and they undergo frequent on-off operation during the running cycles. Repairs and maintenance must be entrusted to competent refrigeration mechanics because of the risk to personnel, particularly in ammonia plants. Intensive training should be provided for local mechanics and technicians. The following section describes the main safety devices and the elements they control.

HIGH-PRESSURE SAFETY PRESSOSTAT

High-pressure safety pressostats or cut-outs are activated when the pressure in the condenser is too high, protecting the system against overload and rupture of the piping. The element controlled by this device is the compressor. The pressostat is fitted to the compressor discharge line and wired in series with the compressor drive, which is cycled-off whenever an increase in condensation pressure becomes excessive. High condensation pressure can be caused by any of the following.

Faulty cooling of the condenser, which may be because of: the failure of pumps in water-cooled condensers or of fans in air-cooled condensers; failure of the water circuit which does not circulate sufficient water or because the water temperature and the equivalent air temperature are too high; and finally, fouling of the condenser surface (scale, algae and dust in air-cooled condensers). The heat exchange surface area is reduced by refrigerant liquid accumulation in the lower part of the condenser. This may be the result of an excessive refrigerant fluid charge in the system or irregular operation of the pressure control. Non-condensable gases present in the circuit, particularly with ammonia installations. In this case a purge is necessary. The automatic control of the condensation pressure is adjusted to an unusually high level. A fire on the premises, producing a quick rise in circuit pressure.

The high-pressure pressostat controls most of the risks derived from an unusual increase in pressure. A high temperature level is usually considered to be in the 4060C range. However this safety device is not enough to protect the refrigeration plant and some other

pressure cut-out device such as a safety pressure relief valve, a fusible plug, a rupture disk or a fuse are necessary. Whenever high-pressure vapour breaks out it must be evacuated from the environment without any risk to personnel or people in the machine room or surrounding areas. Sometimes the high pressure is released into the lowpressure circuit, which should be provided with a leakage restrictor. A highpressure pressostat must always be fitted when water-cooled condensers are used, and the connection must be taken from a point in the discharge line where it cannot be inadvertently isolated. The cut-out pressure should be set well above the maximum condensing pressure when the plant is operating at full load; 14 kp/cm 2 gauge pressure is recommended as the cut-out setting. This is equivalent to 60C for and aircooled halogenated refrigerant plant; 19 kp/cm2 gauge pressure is equivalent to 50C for a water-cooled ammonia plant. The pressure differential should be established according to the operation and bearing in mind that a small differential will result in compressor shortcycling that may cause electrical damage, while large differentials will result in too long off-cycles, leading to an abnormally high rise in storage temperature. A high-pressure pressostat must be manually reset to prevent any risk of automatic oncycling before the malfunction has been found and repaired.

LOW-PRESSURE SAFETY PRESSOSTAT

The low-pressure safety pressostat or cut-out operates when the pressure in the suction circuit decreases below a set level, with the risk of air entry into the circuit if it drops lower than atmospheric pressure. The most common risk is that of very low evaporation temperatures with possible damage to the stored produce and/or the refrigeration plant. Low-pressure pressostats break the circuit to the compressor motor when evaporating pressure falls. There are several causes for low evaporating pressures.

The evaporator is not correctly fed or is not fed at all. This may be owing to the blockage of the expansion valve or its filter, or the solenoid valve upstream of the expansion valve is not in operation, generally because the coil is out of order and thus the automatic valve operated by the solenoid valve is not working. Compressor capacity clearly exceeds evaporator capacity. This may be because of malfunctioning of the compressor capacity control device; the evaporator fans may have stopped accidentally, reducing heat exchange; there may be excessive frost deposit on the evaporator leading to the same heat exchange problem; or the constant pressure valve regulating the evaporating temperature may not be properly adjusted. If there is a very small difference between room and evaporator temperatures the suction pressure may be too low. The refrigerant fluid charge in the circuit is too small, which may be because of an installation error or a small leakage difficult to discover. Sudden and unusual oil dragging into the low-pressure circuit, which both diminishes heat exchange and increases pressure loss in the suction line.

The thermostat is blocked in an open position, keeping the compressor in operation while the thermal load of the evaporator decreases continually.

The pressostat must be set to cut-out at a pressure well below the lowest normal evaporating pressure when the evaporator is working at minimum load, but above a certain pressure to avoid freezing or cold damage to the produce. Small differentials will result in compressor short-cycling so they must be avoided to prevent equipment damage. On the other hand large differentials will result in long off-cycles. When the low-pressure safety device is in operation a limited risk is avoided, which does not represent any great danger to the refrigerating plant. Therefore the pressostat may or may not be manually reset, though for high-capacity machines manual resetting is recommended. These safety devices can suffer from such mechanical failure as leakage of the pressure bellows (they must be replaced), obstruction or partial blockage of the small connecting pipe of the control element with pipe scale and/or sludge (isolate and remove the pipe, flush with refrigerant R.11) or the linkages may be worn, damaged, stuck or loose and must be replaced or readjusted.

OIL-PRESSURE CONTROL
This control is used when the compressor is provided with pump lubrication. If the compressor is splash lubricated there is usually no control device to protect it against lubrication failure, but some machines are equipped with an oil level contactor which cyclesoff the compressor motor when the oil level inside the crankcase is below minimum. Faulty lubrication of the compressor can be caused by either of the following.

Not enough lubricating oil in the compressor crankcase. This may be because of error in the quantity of oil charge to the circuit, especially when halocarbon refrigerants are used; entrapment of oil in the circuit, which does not return at a proper rate to the crankcase; some oil leaks are present and the oil purge from the oil and liquid separators is not correctly conducted. The oil pump is accidentally out of order, probably because of breakdown. The suction and/or delivery oil pipes are obstructed and the pressure of the pump is not enough to overcome this.

The oil-pressure control stops the compressor when the useful pressure developed by the pump falls below a fixed minimum or the oil pressure does not rise to the minimum safety level within an established period. Useful pressure is the difference between total pressure and suction pressure. Therefore the oil-pressure switch, which is activated by useful pressure, must be connected by two pressure bellows to the crankcase and the oil pump discharge. A time delay relay is incorporated in the oil-pressure control to allow the compressor an operating period of about 30120 seconds with oil pressure below safety level. If the control

starts operating as a result of malfunction in the compressor lubricating system, a lamp and/or a hooter (visibleaudible alarm) will be activated. The latter can be manually disconnected. After failure and before the compressor can be restarted the oil-pressure control must be manually reset because of the high risk involved in its operation. The compressor manufacturer's instructions usually set the cut-in and cutout pressures for the oil-pressure control, but whenever such data are not available they should be set at about 0.35 kp/cm2 absolute pressure below useful pressure level and approximately the same quantity below cut-in pressure.

DELIVERY THERMOSTAT
This safety device is used only for ammonia machines as there is the risk of increase in compressor delivery temperature above 130C. This temperature is dangerous as the lubricating oil may break down, notwithstanding high temperature decomposition, and form corrosive acids and sludges. There are several causes for an excessively high delivery temperature.

The system is operating under an excessive compression ratio (absolute discharge pressure divided by absolute suction pressure) especially when it is linked to a refrigerant fluid with a high polytropic compression exponent, for instance ammonia. The suction pressure is very low because the constant pressure valve is not correctly regulated. The lower the suction pressure the higher the discharge temperature, other circumstances remaining constant. Again the two-stage compression systems offer an advantage, as they avoid high discharge temperature. Suction superheat is excessively high due to poor insulation of the suction pipe and/or because it is too long. In an ammonia refrigerant system an automatic humidifier is an advantage where the vaporization of partly vaporized liquid ammonia injected in the suction line from the liquid receiver provides the necessary desuperheating of the vapour.

The delivery superheat thermostat cycles-off the compressor if the discharge temperature is too high. When in operation it avoids serious risk to the compressor, so it must be manually reset.

WATER-REGULATING VALVE
As well as the high-pressure pressostat already described, water-cooled condensers must be provided with a complementary device for controlling water flow. In a waste water system the regulating valve is installed at the inlet of the condenser and is activated by the compressor discharge. The valve modulates the flow of water through the condenser in response to changes in condensing pressure, tending to maintain the condensing pressure constant, though considerable differences occur with changes in the operating cycle (higher pressures during periods of peak loading). When the compressor is shut off, the condensing pressure decreases rapidly and the water flow is also completely cut off with a well-adjusted valve. This results in water and power savings. The water valve shut-off pressure should be set at the refrigerant saturation pressure corresponding to the maximum ambient

temperature of the hottest expected period at the refrigeration plant location. The opening pressure of the valve should be set at about 0.5kp/cm 2 above shut-off pressure. Water circulation is usually operated by a pump, in both waste and recirculated systems, and a water valve is not sufficient to assure flow through the condenser. It is therefore necessary to set up a device (turbinedriven controller, paddle controller or counterweight system) to control flow. When several condensers are installed each must be provided with a regulating valve that will modulate water flow. Installation costs are high, so the refrigerating plant should be equipped with just the necessary number of condensers. The water-regulating valve works well, does not usually present any difficult and its mounting in the water line is simple. Two problems may arise with water flow, which may be insufficient or too high. The causes of insufficient water flow can be poor adjustment of the valve, the strainer and/or the valve seat are dirty and require cleaning or the valve bellows leak and must be replaced. If the water flow is too high the reason may be poor adjustment of the valve, the return spring is broken, water pressure is too high and needs to be reduced or the valve seat is dirty and requires cleaning or it is worn and needs replacement.

EXPANSION VALVES
The expansion of the liquid refrigerant fluid from high to low pressure is achieved by passing it through a device known as an expansion valve. Expansion valves have two functions: metering the liquid refrigerant into the evaporator and maintaining a pressure differential between the high-and low-pressure sides of the refrigerating circuit. There are several types of expansion valve, all automatic. In industrial plants it is advisable, regardless of the type installed, to set up a handoperated controller in parallel with the main expansion valve to avoid plant shut-down if the valve should break down. A solenoid valve is mounted upstream of the expansion valve; in industrial plants both elements as a whole are placed between two manually operated valves to isolate them for maintenance or repairs. This is not done in medium- or small-capacity installations. Thermostatic expansion valve The thermostatic expansion valve provides the most widely used refrigerant control for both commercial and industrial facilities, because of its high efficiency and adaptability to any type of refrigeration application. Moreover it is the only valve that ensures that the liquid cannot return to the compressor. These valves may be used with any refrigerant and are robust and reliable. A solenoid valve in the high-pressure liquid line to protect the expansion valve is a compulsory element when a thermostatic expansion valve is installed and it can also serve to protect any other flow control element. The thermostatic expansion valve is fundamentally a needle valve activated by a bellows or diaphragm and a remote bulb opening on to the valve side through a capillary tube. With a

few exceptions the fluid in the remote bulb is the same refrigerant as that used in the refrigerating circuit. The position and installation of the remote bulb are of paramount importance for the accurate functioning of the valve. It must be firmly clamped to the suction line at the outlet of the evaporator, the groove of the bulb fitted against the side of a vertical pipe and on a horizonatal pipe attached to the top at a 10 or 2 o'clock position; it should be far from any fitting or point where liquid can accumulate. The outer surface of the suction pipe must be thoroughly cleaned, removing all grease and moisture. The bulb and part of the suction pipe must be insulated, usually with rubber foam. The amount of superheat required to bring a thermostatic expansion valve into equilibrium is fixed by adjusting the tension of the spring in the valve, called the superheat adjustment. A high degree of superheat is usually undersirable as the effective heat transfer area of the evaporator is reduced; conversely, if the superheat is set too low the valve will lose control of the refrigerant flow and the evaporator will alternatively starve and overfeed, creating very different operating conditions. The valves are usually correctly adjusted for a superheat of 5C. The main problem with the thermostatic expansion valve is that it cannot maintain a certain evaporator temperature and pressure; as these are influenced by the thermal load of the evaporator the refrigerant boiling temperature decreases with room temperature. The main operating faults of thermostatic valves are the passing of too much or too little liquid. When the valve does not control liquid flow properly and it is too high, the fault is easily noticeable as the suction pipe sweats excessively and even accumulates frost, the compressor cylinder heat is cooler than normal and evaporating pressure is higher than normal. This may be due to poor valve adjustment, to wax or ice crystal deposits on the valve seat that block its closing or to the valve needle being stuck in the open position. A refrigeration engineer can easily fix these faults by readjusting the valve, cleaning it and ensuring the oil is suitable for the evaporating temperature, and replacing damaged valves. The same problem of liquid flow appears when the bulb is not secured properly to the pipe or is not correctly insulated. The bulb should be tightly refitted and/or the insulation changed. If the evaporator pressure is lower and the compressor cylinder head is warmer than normal, the liquid refrigerant fed to the evaporator will not be sufficient. This may be due to several problems with the valve itself or with the bulb charge. The valve may be poorly adjusted; if so it must be readjusted. The inlet filter may be dirty, preventing liquid refrigerant from flowing freely through it, in which case it should be cleaned. There may be wax or ice crystal deposits preventing the valve from opening, so it must be cleaned. If the valve is stuck in the closed position it must be dismantled and repaired or discarded. To overcome pressure drop in the refrigerant in the evaporator, which results in a considerably lower saturation temperature at the evaporator outlet than at the inlet, an externally equalized thermostatic expansion valve should be installed if the refrigerating plant is of high capacity, as evaporators produce an excessive pressure drop. Automatic expansion valve

The automatic expansion valve maintains a constant pressure in the evaporator by more or less looding the evaporator surface, depending on the heat load of the cold chamber. The main disadvantage of this expansion valve is its relatively poor efficiency. It has been mainly used in store applications where the cooling load is fairly constant and low evaporating pressures must be avoided. However, it is seldom used nowadays. Its operating faults, their cause and remedy are practically the same as those encountered with the thermostatic valve, with the exception of those corresponding to the bulb. Sometimes a too large valve is installed leading to erratic operation. This can only be corrected by fitting the correct capacity valve. Low-pressure float valve The low-pressure float valve is used in industrial plants to maintain a constant liquid level in the accumulator. The evaporator is therefore constantly filled to the desired level with liquid refrigerant in all conditions of heat load and independently of evaporator temperature and pressure. The vapour pressure in this flow controller and in the accumulator is the evaporation pressure. The low-pressure float valve can operate either continuously (its throttling action modulates liquid flow into the evaporator in response to liquid level changes) or intermittently (the valve is either fully open or fully closed in response to established minimum and maximum liquid levels). A risk with this type of valve is that liquid may pass through during the compressor off-cycle. This is avoided by fitting a solenoid valve upstream of the float valve and wired in series with the compressor, shutting off the circuit when the compressor is stopped. Another drawback is faulty liquid tightness, particularly if the refrigeration circuit is not thoroughly cleaned in the mounting stage. In large-capacity systems the float valve should be installed in such a way that a bypass line equipped with a hand expansion valve permits the refrigerating plant to operate in the event of float valve failure. Two hand-stop valves, placed one each side of the float valve, allow its isolation for servicing without evacuating the large refrigerant charge from the evaporator. A low-pressure float valve can be used in parallel with a thermostatic expansion valve. If the float valve allows too much liquid to pass through its control evaporating pressure will be higher than normal and/or unevaporated liquid will return to the compressor, causing pipe sweating and eventually knocking. Faulty operation may be due to the valve seat not being properly cleaned, or to the ball float being punctured in which case it must be replaced (there is the risk of high-pressure liquid being trapped inside the float, so careful handling is required) or finally, the operating linkage may be jammed and must be dismantled, cleaned and lubricated. The float valve may not allow sufficient liquid to flow, the low-pressure circuit exhibiting a lower than normal evaporating pressure and the cooling effect being noticeably reduced. This malfunction may be due to a dirty inlet filter. The operating linkage may not be moving freely and if so it must be dismantled, cleaned and lubricated. Finally the accumulator chamber may be filled with gas, either because it is not properly insulated to maintain constant temperature and pressure or because there is an obstruction in the vent pipe. High-pressure float valve

The high-pressure float valve is similarly a liquid-activated refrigerant flow control, located on the high-pressure side of the refrigerating circuit and controlling indirectly the amount of liquid in the evaporator by maintaining a constant liquid level in the receiver. It also ensures a continuous liquid flow toward the low-pressure circuit. The bulk of the refrigerant charge always remains in the evaporator, which is advantageous as the receiver can be small. The operating principle of this valve is based on the perfect equilibrium of the refrigerating system as the vapour is always condensed in the condenser at the same rate that the liquid is vaporized in the evaporator. Therefore the high-pressure float rate will continuously and automatically feed the liquid back to the evaporator at the rate of vaporization and will close the circuit whenever the compressor stops. To ensure correct feeding it is only necessary to install a single float valve for each evaporator. The surge drum for the flooded-type evaporator should have enough volume to hold the liquid. In order to avoid flooding back or slugging, a volume equal to at least 25 percent of the evaporator volume is recommended. The refrigerant charge in the refrigerating plant is critical for this type of flow control. An overcharge will cause evaporator overfeeding, which risks liquid refrigerant flooding back to the evaporator. A more serious overcharge will impede the reduction of evaporator pressure by the compressor to the desired low level. If the system is undercharged the operation of the float valve will be erratic and the evaporator will be starved. When the refrigerant charge is seriously reduced (leaks not detected) the total amount of liquid is not enough to reach the minimum level that opens the valve and installation capacity will be nil. The high-pressure float valve can be installed either below or above the evaporator level and it should be as close to the evaporator as possible. As it is generally placed close to the receiver the piping to the evaporator, which is very long, must have proper thermal insulation. Also, an intermediate pressure-reducing valve should be installed in the liquid line at the evaporator inlet so high pressure will be maintained in the line. This pressurereducing valve is used in industrial systems when the thermal load is markedly constant. The most common operating faults of high-pressure float valves are, first, too much liquid passing to the evaporator due to an overcharged system. The refrigerant must be slowly purged until correct operating conditions are restored. Second, if insufficient liquid passes to the evaporator the evaporating pressure becomes lower than normal and the cooling effect decreases. The causes are similar to those with low-pressure valves (inlet filter dirty, ball float punctured or operating linkage jammed) and can be similarly solved. The system may also be undercharged because of refrigerant fluid leakage. Leaks must be traced and repaired and the system then carefully recharged to prevent overcharging. There may be a complete loss of cooling. This is indicated also by the equilibrium of the evaporation and condensing pressure. This is caused by the valve remaining open, usually because of dirt accumulation in the valve seat or because the linkage is jammed. The valve must be repaired, though generally cleaning and lubricating are enough. A high-pressure float valve can be used in the oil separator to assure the automatic return of the lubricating oil to the compressor crankcase.

SOLENOID VALVES
Solenoid valves are widely used in refrigerating plants to control automatically not only fluid refrigerant flow (liquid line and evaporator outlet) but water, brine or any other liquid flow, for instance in the condenser water cooling line. When gas defrosting is used solenoid valves are fitted in the refrigeration circuit to reverse refrigerant flow. A solenoid valve is simply an electrically operated valve consisting of an electromagnetic coil which when energized draws a plunger which opens the valve port. Closing action is achieved by gravity when the coil is deenergized. Solenoid valves controlling the refrigerant flow in the liquid line feeding the evaporators are thermostatically activated. Solenoids vary according to permitted pressure differences across the valve, drop in pressure through the valve, the desired flow rate and the state of the circulating fluid. The valves can be direct acting or pilot operated. Small solenoid valves are usually direct acting; they are fitted in smalldiameter pipes and their power demand is low, about 15 Watts. Pilot-operated solenoid valves are used in large-diameter pipes as the pressure differences across the valve provide the force to carry out the closing and opening actions. Solenoid valves are simple and robust, and their functioning is generally reliable and accurate as they usually operate in an on-off mode. This is also true when they work in a modulated fashion (applying a changeable voltage to the electromagnetic coil of the valve). They have some drawbacks. They are not gastight, particularly for large pipe sections. Their most usual failure is coil breakdown, which is not foreseeable so it is impossible to detect during maintenance operations. Unless they are vapour-tight condensation of water vapour on their cold side may occur, particularly when they are installed in rooms with high humidity and working in medium-temperature conditions. There is also some risk of causing a water hammer effect in the liquid line. Solenoid valves must be correctly installed. They must always be mounted in a vertical position with the coil on top, unless they are especially. designed for horizontal installation. They must also be mounted in line with the direction of flow, usually shown by an arrow on the valve body. Some operating faults may appear when a solenoid valve is at work. If the valve fails to open the cause could be mechanical or electrical. Mechanical problems follow when the valve is not mounted level on the pipe or when the plunger is stuck to the valve seat. Electrical failures could be because of dirty or loose electrical connections, no power supply, and/or a damaged coil. It is advisable to have several coils in stock for each type of solenoid valve. If the valve does not fully close the valve seat may be either dirty or worn. The valve should be dismantled and the valve seat and plunger cleaned or renewed, or a new valve should be fitted. When the valve is noisy during operation it has obviously not been correctly installed and is not level on the pipe; an alternative could be that the electrical connections are not sound.

THERMOSTATS

Although the fundamentals of these elements and the role they play in room temperature control have already been discussed, it is useful to review them briefly regarding faulty operation, its causes and remedies. Thermostats are temperature-activated controllers which regulate the temperature level of a refrigerated space by cycling the compressor on and off. They consist of a sensing element and an electric contactor. Three types of temperature-sensing elements are commonly used in refrigeration: fluidfilled bulbs connected to pressure bellows or diaphragm, bimetal strips or compound bars, and electric resistances and semiconductors. The latter two are seldom used in refrigeration, but as they are rather easy to install and regulate they promise well for the future. Thermocouples as sensing elements in the thermostats are rarely used in refrigeration. A problem with the pressure bellows type of element is they may lose their fluid charge. To check this compress the bellows by hand. If they move under finger pressure the fluid charge has been completely or partially lost. The bellows assembly must be replaced, if accessible, otherwise the thermostat must be changed. Electric failure of the thermostats may be due to poor electrical connections (clean and tighten them for correct operation) or to worn, pitted or corroded contact points (replace them). These mechanical or electrical failures will cause the thermostat to remain either open or closed. When it stays open the compressor will shut down even if the room temperature is above the desired level. The use of a jumper lead across the terminals should immediately restart the compressor. When the thermostat remains closed the compressor will continue running even if the room temperature is below the established level. Test by turning the control knob to a higher temperature. Faulty operation may also be traced to the incorrect installation of the sensing element, usually the fluid bulb. If it is not securely attached to the evaporator surface and/or it is not sufficiently clean and dry for good thermal contact, an excessive temperature difference is necessary before the thermostat operates. When the thermostat directly controls space temperature the bulb is fixed to the chamber wall with a metallic bracket in one of the positions already described. If there is no thermal insulation between the bulb and the bracket the equilibrium temperature of the bulb will be higher than that of the room space.

TESTING SAFETY DEVICES

As safety devices operate intermittently and operational conditions can gradually become erratic, it is important to check them periodically for correct operation and to adjust them when they malfunction. It is essential to check every control or safety element and all equipment when starting up a newly installed plant. Pressure gauges, pressostats, thermostats, valves, relief valves, compressors, fans, pumps, refrigerant pipes and water or liquid pipes must be checked for proper operation on starting and whenever the refrigerating

plant has been shut down for a long period. It is advisable to be vigilant for some time as it is well-known that the possibilities of breakdown are higher during start-up. A maintenance programme for the operating plant that includes frequent automation checks is necessary. Pressure gauges should be checked at regular intervals, normally once a month. When the isolation manual valve is closed and the gauge connecting tube is slightly released the pressure measured will be atmospheric. The pressure shown should be zero, and if it is not the needle position must be readjusted. If this is not possible, note should be taken of the adjustment to be done on the reading. To check the high-pressure pressostat the refrigerating plant is started up without operating the condenser cooling system (the water pump or the air fan are not running) and the cutting pressure is checked at which the pressostat cycles-off the plant. The pressostat action must be neat and at the same time acoustic, and light signals should be activated. Cycling-on is not allowed until the pressostat is manually reset. The low-pressure pressostat is tested by stopping the refrigerant supply to the evaporator, closing either a hand valve or a solenoid valve placed upstream of the expansion valve. The pumping action of the compressor increases and the operating conditions are checked on the suction pressure gauge. Manual resetting of this pressostat is optional. Checking and regulation of both types of pressostat should be done at monthly intervals. When the compressor is pump lubricated the oil pressostats cannot be checked by stopping the oil pump. However, if the joints of the pressostat connecting pipes are slightly loosened the pressure difference decreases until it becomes nil. The cutting action of the pressostat is then tested, as is the operation of the time delay relay. This operation should be repeated once every three months, verifying that the compressor does not cycle-on until the pressostat is manually reset. When the compressor is splash lubricated and protected against oil deficiency by an oil level contactor, the oil level should be checked once a week when the compressor is stopped. The delivery thermostat, controlling compressor discharge temperature, should be checked and regulated once every three months.

AUTOMATION
Automation of a refrigerating installation provides safe and profitable running in any operating conditions without human intervention (integral automation) and at the same time assures that the controlled parameters (temperature or relative humidity in the chamber, for instance) do not differ from the fixed values and that they can be readjusted when they are not within the established range. Automation should satisfy two major objectives: it should provide a more accurate control and reduce operating costs by minimizing the number of people employed in the plant. It also serves another function of paramount importance - safety.

Control may be more or less extensive depending on whether automation is partial or integral. Automation is now widespread and even in manually operated plants some automatic apparatus is installed for accurate and continuous monitoring of certain operations. Control is always accurate as automatic equipment nowadays responds quickly to parameter deviations, operates continuously and follows closely any equipment manoeuvre. This accuracy is difficult to reach with manual control of the refrigerating operation. Sometimes skilled operators have the advantage over automatic operation as they are able to anticipate some operating situations, such as cooling down the chilling chambers or freezing tunnels before they are loaded and start running. Moreover, the reduction in operating costs may be small as the investment costs are usually much higher. The variety, complexity and costs are such that a very strict maintenance programme must be undertaken by highly skilled technical personnel with appropriate qualifications and experience. This increases maintenance costs and offsets the benefits of a reduction in unskilled personnel. However, the advantages totally justify the installation of automatic control. There are certain situations, in large and complex installations for instance, where semiautomation may be recommended, partly for economic reasons but also for safety as these installations must not be allowed to operate without human supervision. The essential feature of a semi-automatic refrigerating plant is that the choice of the operating periods is left to the operators' initiative. Once the plant is in service, control is automatic as in totally automatic plants. Automatic control must include the communication of information to allow supervision of the plant's operation. All the sensing elements should be linked to indicator lights, measuring devices, audiowarning devices, and so on, which are displayed in the machine room. They are generally incorporated in a synoptic luminous panel. There must also be remote control of the machinery in the machine room, either for manual control of the operation or for resetting the control elements after operation failure. Automatic equipment should be verified at least once a week with reliable apparatus. As well as the refrigerating plant safety devices, the machine room must be provided with ammonia leak detectors so that the alarm systems are activated and the plant shut down in case of leakage. Extractor fans, water spray points and carbon dioxide fire extinguishers are required in the event of ammonia leakage. These elements should be independent of the general electric mains and be readily accessible outside the machine room. The automatic sequence of machine start-up should be established with these requirements in mind:

the compressor must not run if the condenser cooling water pump or the condenser fans are not working; the refrigerant liquid pump will not work until the compressor and evaporator fan are running and the refrigerant fluid is circulating in any of the evaporators; when the refrigerant fluid is not circulating in the evaporators, the various elements of the refrigerating circuit should be stopped.

Although the decision will depend on the expertise of the maintenance personnel, the accuracy of control can always be given second place after equipment robustness and long service life. A stock of spare parts should be kept, giving priority to those that are the most frequent causes of trouble. The list will be related to ease of supply. In some cases duplicates for control apparatus should be stocked, but in general the following elements will suffice: lubricating oil and refrigerant fluid; coils for each type of solenoid valve and a solenoid valve of each type; sets of valves (especially suction valves) and piston rings for each type of compressor; sets of joints and driving belts; fan motors for air coolers; and fuses, coils for electrical contactors, cut-outs, etc.

REFRIGERANT CIRCUIT
The two main troubles encountered in the refrigerant fluid circuit (pipes, condensers, evaporators, compressors, receivers and ancillaries) are refrigerant leakage and noncondensable gas accumulation. Refrigerant leakage Refrigerants should be selected to suit the evaporating temperature in such a way that the pressure at any point of the circuit is always above atmospheric pressure. In this way any refrigerant leakage will be outward. With halocarbon refrigerants there is a high rate of leakage that can be detected by the presence of oil on the outside, as oil escapes with the refrigerant. For more direct detection a halide lamp or an electronic type detector can be used. In the absence of detecting equipment the area suspected of leakage can be tested by brushing a soap and water solution over it. The halide lamp flame reveals the presence of refrigerant by turning light green when the refrigerant is drawn into the search tube. As halocarbons are heavier than air, leaks should be looked for mainly on the underside of the joints, moving the sensor slowly and avoiding draughts. The electronic type detector works on the difference in electric resistance between air and refrigerant and indicates the presence of refrigerant with a visual alarm. It is very sensitive and will detect very small refrigerant concentrations. Ammonia leaks are detected by passing burning sulphur candles around the suspected joints. The presence of ammonia will be indicated by a dense white smoke. Although ammonia is a flammable refrigerant this method of detection does not represent any danger provided the ammonia concentration is low. However, it must never be used when breathing has become uncomfortable. Non-condensable gases Non-condensable gases accumulating in the high-pressure side of the refrigerant circuit will cause a rise in delivery pressure, affecting compressor power consumption and wear. The presence of these gases in the system is indicated by the standing head pressure shown on the delivery gauge once the system is stabilized, that is when the condenser is in thermal equilibrium with the environment. If this pressure is greater than that of the refrigerant vapour that corresponds to the equilibrium temperature, then non-condensable

gases are present in the condenser. These must be removed from the system step by step by purging from the highest point on the high-pressure side, slowly reducing the pressure and allowing stabilization by short intervals after each reduction. Automatic purgers are usually installed in industrial refrigerating plants for continuous non-condensable gas removal.

Costs and investment

Although the economics will vary with the interests of the owners and from country to country, the target of high profitability from cold store investment is common to all. General advice has been given in previous chapters on economic design (influencing investment) and operation (affecting total operating costs). The economic aspects of cold stores as an enterprise are now discussed in detail. The total investment for the construction of a cold store depends on required land area, industrial plant space and refrigeration load. Storage capacity rules all three, as well as its distribution between chilled and frozen storage. Storage space is usually located next to a slaughterhouse and killing capacity (head per hour) will decide chilling and storage capacities. The following table gives some guideline figures for necessary surface area in the different sections of a rural slaughterhouse, incorporating chilled and eventually frozen meat storage. Figures indicate percentages of total area and are given for two distinct cattle killing rates.

Sector
Killing and dressing area Chilling and storage Machine room (boiler included) Byproducts area (inedible) General store Canteen and resting areas Offices Refrigerated docks Dead space

Slaughter rate 20 head/hour

10.94 18.25 2.82 18.19 2.35 4.03 8.26 3.45 31.71

60 head/hour
17.25 24.74 4.21 19.52 1.91 4.32 9.65 3.50 14.91

The total land area necessary for an industrial plant is about six times the area occupied by the industrial building or covered areas. For large facilities (over 100 head of cattle per hour) 40 m2per head and hour are considered sufficient in a preliminary draft. This figure should be increased up to 75 m2 per head an hour when the killing rate of the store is reduced to less than 20 head per hour. Refrigerating loads are directly related to killing rates, which is obvious as the main fraction of the load should be carcass chilling. The refrigerating load for a plant killing 20 head of cattle an hour should be estimated at 160 000 kcal/h (185 kW) continuous refrigeration

capacity. This should increase to 460 000 kcal/h (544 kW) for a 60 head/hour plant. A triple killing capacity also demands a nearly triple refrigerating capacity. Cooling requirements to cope with carcass chilling can be evaluated by considering the amount of heat to be extracted per kilogram of carcass when cooled from 38C to about 2C, depending on the different species: lean beef, 8 kcal/kg; fat beef 22 kcal/kg; veal, 6 kcal/kg; fat pork, 19 kcal/kg. Although the hourly capacity varies during the slaughter period, the computation should be based on the duration of the fixed cooling down period. Similarly the amount of heat to be extracted when freezing prechilled meat (that is, considering an initial temperature of 5C and a frozen product average temperature of about -25C) will be in the order of 70 kcal/ kg, with little differences according to the kind of product being frozen. It is difficult to give cost estimates to arrive at the investment needed to build refrigerated stores. They will be highly influenced by the place of construction (particularly the situation and conditions of the country), the size of the industrial plant, and other factors which are hard to quantify. Similarly the way investments are distributed among the different items or sections will depend on the type and size of the cold store, on whether or not chilling and/or freezing are included and on the degree of mechanization, etc. Here is an approximate investment distribution for the main items composing a cold store.
Land (about six times the covered surface, including substructural costs as for an industrial site Civil engineering (housing the industrial plant but excluding cold chambers) Refrigeration equipment (including machines, piping, insulation, control and safety devices, chamber doors, etc.) Auxiliary equipment and installation (water, electricity, etc.) Handling equipment (trucks, pallets) Office equipment 14% 14% 58.5% 3.5% 9.5% 0.5%

It must be emphasized that this investment distribution is for a cold store with no links at all to a slaughterhouse. Obviously an industrial plant including both sectors is subject to so many considerations that it is not worth splitting up the investment cost. However there should be a balance between investments in refrigerating plant and killing and dressing equipment on the one hand and the remaining investment on the other. Investment and amortization constitute an important part of the running costs of the cold store. The following periods of financial amortization are usually adopted.
Building and civil engineering work Insulation Traditional Sandwich type Refrigerant fluid piping Refrigerating equipment and ancillaries Handling equipment 15 years 12 10 10 5 " " " " 15 years

Office equipment

"

These amortization periods provide a financial situation which allows the equipment to be renovated economically. However this schedule should not necessarily be followed because if the plant has been correctly installed and serviced its working life will be much longer than its amortization period. After financial amortization has been paid off, total operating costs decrease. The cold storage of meat generates certain fixed and variable costs. The former include capital costs, depending on the duration of financial amortization, rental (if any), maintenance, security, and so on. Variable costs include functioning of the refrigerating plant, produce handling, equipment servicing, complementary equipment and material, produce depreciation, wastage, theft, stocktaking costs, etc. When the storage enterprise policy is planned on a long-term basis there are no fixed costs, as any cost, even building maintenance and security, will change with time. The sum of the fixed and variable costs gives the total annual operating costs. The operating costs are constituted by well-defined expenses plus the financial costs; these expenses include energy, water, staff and eventual labour, servicing and handling. Handling cost is made up of several factors related to labour, clerical personnel and equipment utilization. These factors are wages, stock rotation, number of articles handled, FIFO rule observance, decrease in lead time and conditions of utilization. Energy, usually electricity, is a function of the installed power that concerns not only refrigerating components (compressors, fans and pumps) but also auxiliary machines (driving chains, electric batteries for forklift trucks, elevators), and lighting and heating when necessary. The electricity bill can be drastically reduced by adopting energy-saving programmes, by drawing up an adequate contract with the power-supplying company, by working the plant during low tariff periods and by maintaining the electric motor at a high standard of efficiency (correct capacity regulation and installation of electric condensers). Water is mainly consumed in the condenser circuit (for waste water systems only pumping energy is accounted for) as make-up water. Cleaning programmes and operator hygiene are secondary consumers. Water consumption is not high and its cost is usually kept low. However, if water treatment is necessary it may be costly. The staff of the plant should include a general manager, clerical personnel, at least two technicians (refrigeration engineer and mechanical engineer), qualified personnel for maintenance and servicing and skilled labour for handling operations. The number of people in each grade depends on storage capacity, the number of rotations a year, the degree of mechanization and automation and the number of working hours per day. It is obvious that the proportion of these parts in total operating costs varies for different cold stores. Energy costs and the availability of technical and/or skilled labour and even unqualified labour and of spare parts and handling components will strongly influence the relative importance of the various expenses. These will also be affected by the size of the cold store and the number of rotations a year.

In meat bulk storage stock rotation is usually low, no more than three or four times a year. This means handling costs are relatively low compared with storage costs. As rotation increases handling costs significantly increase their share in total operating costs. On the average, expenses can be distributed as follows.
Capital cost Energy Staff and labour Servicing and maintenance Water 42% 25% 18% 13% 2%

To calculate net storage costs it is necessary to divide total operating costs by the quantity of stored goods. This cost is affected by the annual average degree of utilization of the cold chambers and the number of rotations a year (70 percent occupation and six rotations give a total amount of products stored through the year equal to 4.2 times the cold store capacity; a 60 percent occupation and three rotations represent only 1.8 times the store capacity). Generally net storage cost represents a relatively small amount compared with the price of the stored goods, even when weight loss from water vaporization and storage disorders are included. The net cost of frozen storage is considerably higher than chilled storage since initial investment in refrigerating equipment is greater and energy costs are higher. Frozen storage can be estimated to be about twice as expensive as chilled storage.

STORAGE AND HANDLING ADMINISTRATION

Good cold store management has three functions: to get the best possible results in preserving the stored produce, to do this at the lowest operating cost, and to reduce the wear on equipment and plant by maintaining and even improving their working condition and efficiency. As produce must be controlled during storage an exact programme and data sheet must be established for the follow-up of each product consignment and calendar with an estimated storage-life limit must be kept. The data sheet used to record storage background will cover daily movement of products, with specification of the tonnage loading and/or unloading of each kind of product and information on the stacks in each cold chamber. Some model record sheets for storage are given in the annex. For proper stock control certain forms must be completed in order to plan, organize and control handling. These include loading/unloading sheets, packing and weight lists, pallet cards for FIFO and location, room temperature and relative humidity sheets and stocktaking (see record sheets in the annex). The management of perishable produce, generally kept for short periods, must be planned on the basis of a storage capacity large enough for almost all the plant's production.

To reduce operating costs it is of primary importance to keep accurate records and analyse them periodically either in summary sheets or, preferably, in graphs which show trends and any sudden variation more clearly. This makes it easy to refer to any incident, observing the time and working conditions under which it took place. Theoretical refrigerating load should be used as an indication of the refrigerating plant's energy consumption. Actual energy consumed, usually electric, must be collated monthly against the store operation programme. Differences between theoretical and actual energy consumption show how well the refrigerating plant has been built, particularly regarding the quality of thermal insulation, and whether the cold stores are being properly managed. For instance, if actual consumption is always higher than theoretical consumption, the refrigerating capacity of the cooling plant may be too low to cope. When actual consumption is higher only during hot weather it is an indication there is insufficient thermal insulation or it has not been properly installed. Mismanagement during loading and unloading will increase energy consumption, especially during peak traffic periods. The evaluation of energy consumption should be used as an element to establish storage tariff or rate as consumption will be proportional to the weight of the product stored, to the length of storage and temperature requirements, to loading and unloading operations and to the thermal load due to high ambient temperature. Considering these factors it may be practical to fix summer and winter tariffs. It is also advisable to fix different rates depending on the type of service offered by the storehandling, chilling or freezing and storing. Actually each is a function of totally different factors. Handling, chilling and freezing depend on the nature of the operation. Storing, however, depends on storage conditions and on the length of time the products are stored. Although equipment maintenance has already been discussed it is worth emphasizing again that problems must be eliminated before they worsen. In other words, a preventive maintenance programme must be set up in order to check, repair and/or replace any element or part whenever necessary or at established running periods. This maintenance programme should be extended to thermal insulation, checking its performance every few years by sampling and measuring thermal conductivity of the insulant material. Some sample sheets for maintenance records are given in the annex. They will help in monitoring preventive maintenance programmes. They also give some hints on how to check abnormal energy consumption in the refrigerating plant and in individual elements.

COMMERCIAL ASPECTS
As well as the actual storage of delivered goods, cold stores offer customers additional services such as chilling, freezing, packaging and invoicing. Storage and additional services should be stipulated in a refrigeration contract where the special provisions required by the customer are also specified.

Cold store owners are responsible for the adequate preservation of produce from the moment the store receives it until it has been delivered. Operators should take care the produce does not suffer any damage either during handling or through faulty storage. On reception the products must be thoroughly checked for quantity and quality to avoid inaccurate identification of lots. Carcasses, quarters and cuts should be counted and weighed and small pieces packed in boxes. When the goods are received on pallets the pallets should also be checked inside for any missing boxes. If the number of pallets is high a random check should be set up to control the proportion of missing items. The importance of checking the quality of the product on arrival must be emphasized. Special attention should be paid to external appearance and surface and internal temperatures, particularly when the product has been transported over long distances, to detect any defective goods. This checking must be done with the customer himself or with the customer's supplier to avoid any future discrepancies. Vehicle temperature during transport must be cross-checked with the carrier as the vehicle should be equipped with an appropriate temperaturerecording device and the reading element placed in a readily visible position. No product transported at a warmer temperature than that established by regulations should be accepted for storage. Defective goods should be stored separately if deterioration is not very extensive or refused for storage when they are badly deteriorated. In any case they should be stored in a separate room under the customer's responsibility. The results of checking the produce at reception will be shown on a memorandum receipt where, besides observations on the amount and state of products on arrival and the transport temperature record, the storage conditions required by the customer and length of storage should be declared. During storage continuous inspection of the products must be carried out by qualified personnel. However, the customer himself must be willing to make inspections under managerial policy. Routine inspections should be conducted more frequently with higher storage temperatures. Chilled meat and meat products should be inspected daily. Frozen meat inspection can be less frequent, though as frozen products are usually boxed and stored on pallets inspection will be more complicated. The observations made should be recorded under the heading Comment on the storage record sheet and notified to customers when they are important. When the storage period expires (practical storage life limit or customer deadline) delivery of the produce requires the same care as its reception, the cold store staff and customer undertaking a thorough cross-check. Number of items, weights, state and external appearance plus random internal controls must be checked to the satisfaction of both parties. For the correct receipt, storage and delivery of produce adequate management of stocks is essential. This implies keeping stocks permanently up to date, being able to locate the

batches in the different cold rooms, checking accounting inventories and comparing them with physical inventories, and supplying the basic data for invoicing and the analytical accounting of the net costs.

INSURANCE
During the time goods are under the responsibility of a cold store they could be liable to deterioration or even destruction as a result of operating problems, accidents or cataclysms. The value of the goods stored is often considerable, much higher than the store itself. For example, meat produce value may be from two to four times as much as store value, and out of all proportion to storage charges. It is therefore very important to insure produce against any risk of damage during storage and to establish the cold store's liability in any contingency. Stored products can be damaged by fire, leakage of refrigerant, machine breakdown or failure in power or water supply preventing the functioning of the plant, some sort of natural disaster (flood, earthquake, tornado), theft or terrorist acts. Obviously the first three causes are more frequent and so they must be specifically covered in the insurance policy. Fire is the main cause of produce damage. It can break out in the storage area and directly damage the produce or it may break out in the machine room or affect some other vital part of the refrigeration plant and indirectly damage the goods through smoke taint or a temperature rise in the cold rooms. As both sorts of damage mean heavy economic losses, cold stores must be fully covered against all direct and indirect consequences of a fire. Leakage of refrigerant is always dangerous in the cold store premises but it will have a deleterious effect on the produce if it happens inside the storage rooms. It can damage either by direct contact (ammonia and halogenated refrigerant) or by odour taint (ammonia). Although refrigerant leakage rarely leads to total destruction of the produce very often there is serious depreciation, so the risk is not negligible and the degree of insurance cover should be analysed for each individual case. Machine breakdown means operating failure of the refrigerating plant with the risk of damaging the stored produce. This can happen also with a power supply failure or an insufficient water supply for the safe operation of the plant. The extent of the damage will depend on the time it takes to bring the plant back into operation. All these eventualities should be analysed and insurance cover paid accordingly. The remaining risks are usually included in a general clause giving full range coverage and thus ensuring any loss will be recouped. Another situation that is worth including in the insurance policy is that of professional civil liability, which may be imputed to the cold store as a result of professional errors that lead to the unsatisfactory operation of the store and damage to the stored produce.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Safety precautions in a cold store are necessary in the refrigerating plant operation, equipment maintenance and servicing and handling of merchandise to avoid accidents while transporting or stacking produce and any risk to personnel in the cold chambers. Fire, the most usual risk in cold stores, can originate from walls, pipes or roof insulation, vapour barrier, the merchandise itself or its packages, electrical cables, door frames or rubbish. Defective functioning of the electrical system can be responsible for fire breakout through short circuits, but often welding during equipment maintenance can be a cause. Several preventive measures can be taken at the time of plant design or construction, such as the location of partitions and doors, passing electric cables through thermal insulating material and installing sensitive detectors for smoke and/or rises in temperature. Firefighting equipment should be strategically distributed throughout the premises and store personnel should be trained in fire-fighting. Fire extinguishers of the dry powder type, which are very effective with all classes of fire, should be wall-mounted outside every cold room door, the machine room and next to any confined area. Maintenance programmes must include periodical checking of extinguishers. An adequate number of water points for fire-fighting should be distributed from a specially designed water network which provides adequate pressure and flow volume. For a 50 000 m3 cold store a minimum flow volume of 120 m3/h which can be maintained for two hours at a pressure of 4 bars is recommended. Automatic water sprinkling systems or carbon dioxide foam injectors, particularly for rooms at temperatures below 0C, can be mounted in large stores, but the relatively high quantities necessary, the limited availability of CO2 and the cost make their use infrequent. Breathing equipment of the self-contained compressed-air type must be provided as protection against the smoke which emanates from burning insulation material and against refrigerant leakage. The number needed will depend on the size of the cold store, but a minimum of two should be conveniently positioned near the main doors. A further precaution against refrigerant leakage can be provided by installing gas detection equipment of the automatic type. It will detect low refrigerant concentrations (as low as 10 ppm for ammonia) before the gas becomes harmful for the stored produce. Special precautions are necessary to prevent personnel being locked in low temperature rooms. Certain working routines such as staff members not being allowed to enter a cold room alone, or establishing duty rounds before the working shift leaves the premises, will avoid accidents. Cold rooms should also be equipped with emergency doors, a separate personnel door or an insulated safety exit, a warning light and audible alarm operated from inside and connected to an independent battery-operated circuit, and an axe next to each door. To prevent accidents with machinery operation the adoption of several rules will increase plant safety. Machine moving parts and transmission drives should be protected by guards;

internal transport truck speeds should be restricted to 5 km/h and trucks should be fitted with emergency lights and non-skid driving wheels; personnel must be protected with safety helmets adequate for working in a low temperature; and storage racks should be checked at monthly intervals. Many other accident-prevention measures can be taken, but none of them will be of use unless a programme of personnel training and periodical emergency routines is established.

HEALTH OF PERSONNEL
Working in cold rooms, particularly at temperatures below zero, demands a high physical and mental standard of personnel. Low temperatures quickly cause heat loss from the body, affecting primarily the fingers and toes: they become numb and the operator's dexterity is reduced. Physical activity will help to maintain body temperature. When heat losses are not balanced by metabolic activity body temperature will decrease; every 1C decrease in the deep body temperature will reduce metabolism by 12 percent. Working in a low temperature has special effects on the human body (shivering, numbness, cold diuresis, psychological stress), but it is by no means hazardous to health provided the worker is physically fit and special working routines are adopted to counteract the effects of the cold. First, protective clothing providing sufficient thermal resistance should be worn while working in cold environments. Thermal protection of 3 clo (1 clo is defined as the insulating quality provided by a clothing assembly equivalent to a thermal resistance of 0.18C.m2h/kcal) will be suitable for moderate activity in -20C. However, only 2 clo would be necessary for heavy work in -40C. Protective clothing must provide good thermal protection but it should not be so thick, stiff or heavy that it hinders work. It should be adjustable at the wrists and the neck but not too tight on the body so as not to hamper internal air circulation. The outer layer of the clothing should be windproof and watertight but not totally impervious to water vapour to avoid heavy perspiration. Certain areas should allow adequate ventilation. Hood (protecting neck, ears and forehead), shoes and boots should be lined to provide thermal protection. Boots should be fitted with non-skid soles. When personnel are working in the cold room draughts must be avoided and lighting should be adequate to facilitate handling operations. Heated rest rooms (between 20 and 27C, well ventilated) where personnel can rest and restore their physical as well as mental capacity should be provided. Hot showers and hot beverages should be available. Resting periods must be properly planned and supervised. Personnel should be instructed in the proper use of rest rooms and in the upkeep of protective garments. They must undergo regular medical controls and maintain an adequate personal hygiene. ANNEX 1A Record of storage temperature and relative humidity

Room number 1 Date Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening 2 3

Temperature Relative Temperature Relative Temperature Relative humidity humidity humidity

ANNEX 1B Record of storage Cold room number: Temperature: Relative humidity: Recommendations:
Alley Position 1 2 3

P W
A

LD PSL

N of P CN

P: product; LD: loading date; W: weight; PSL: period of storage limit; N of P: number of pallets; CN: codenumbers.

ANNEX 2 Loading and unloading record sheet Cold room number: Temperature: Relative humidity: Recommendations:
Loading Dat Tim Sour e e ce Unloading Morning Evening

Prod Weig Tim Destinat Prod Weig Temperat Relati Temperat Relati Comme uct ht e ion uct ht ure ve ure ve nts humid humid ity ity

ANNEX 3A Refrigerating Machinery Compressor number: Room/s operated:

Energy Functioning consumption Comments Temp. Pressure Temp. Pressure Hours/24 h kwh/24 h Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening Morning Discharge Suction

Date

Evening Morning Evening Morning Evening

ANNEX 3B Compressor number: Condensing fluid: Next maintenance operations (cleaning, descaling, water treatment, Cooling tower):
Temperature of fluid Morning Evening Energy consumption pumps and/or fans 1 2 Comments

Date Entering Leaving Entering Leaving

FAO TECHNICAL PAPERS FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPERS:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Animal breeding: selected articles from World Animal Review, 1977 ( C* E* F* S*) Eradication of hog cholera and African swine fever, 1976 (E* F* S*) Insecticides and application equipment for testse control, 1977 (E* F*) New feed resources, 1977 (E/F/S*) Bibliography of the criollo cattle of the Americas, 1977 ( E/S*)

6. 7.

Mediterranean cattle and sheep in crossbreeding, 1977 (E* F*) Environmental impact of tsetse chemical control, 1977 ( E* F*)

7. Environmental impact of tsetse chemical control, 1980 (E* F*) Rev. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20/1. Declining breeds of Mediterranean sheep, 1978 (E* F*) Slaughterhouse and slaughterslab design and construction, 1978 ( E* F* S*) Treating straw for animal feeding, 1978 (C* E* F* S*) Packaging, storage and distribution of processed milk, 1978 (E*) Ruminant nutrition: selected articles from World Animal Review, 1978 (C* E* F* S*) Buffalo reproduction and artificial insemination, 1979 (E*) The African trypanosomiases, 1979 (E* F*) Establishment of dairy training centres, 1979 (E*) Open yard housing for young cattle, 1981 (E* F* S*) Prolific tropical sheep, 1980 (E* F* S*) Feed from animal wastes: state of knowledge, 1980 (E*) East Coast fever and related tick-borne diseases, 1980 (E* S*) Trypanotolerant livestock in West and Central Africa Vol. 1 General study, 1980 (E* F*) Trypanotolerant livestock in West and Central Africa Vol. 2 Country studies, 1980 (E* F*) Le btail trypanotolrant en Afrique occidentale et centrale 20/3. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. Vol. 3 - Bilan d'une dcennie, 1988 (F*) Guideline for dairy accounting, 1980 (E*) Recursos genticos Animales en Amrica Latina, 1981 (S*) Disease control in semen and embryos, 1982 (E* F* S*) Animal genetic resources conservation and management, 1981 (E*) Reproductive efficiency in cattle, 1982 (E* F* S*) Camels and camel milk, 1982 (E*) Deer farming, 1982 (E*) Feed from animal wastes: feeding manual, 1982 (E*) Echinococcosis/hydatidosis surveiliance, prevention and control: FAO/UNEP/WHO guidelines, 1982 (E*) Sheep and goat breeds of India, 1982 (E*) Hormones in animal production, 1982 (E*) Crop residues and agro-industrial by-products in animal feeding, 1982 (E/F*) Haemorrhagic septicaemia, 1982 (E* F*)

20/2.

34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44/1. 44/2. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 50/2. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59/1.

Breeding plans for ruminant livestock in the tropics, 1982 ( E* F* S*) Off-tastes in raw and reconstituted milk, 1983 (E* F*

S*)

Ticks and tick-borne diseases: selected articles from World Animal Review, 1983 (E* F* S*) African animal trypanosomiasis: selected articles from World Animal Review, 1983 (E* F*) Diagnosis and vaccination for the control of brucellosis in the Near East, 1983 ( E* Ar*) Solar energy in small-scale milk collection and processing, 1983 (E* F*) Intensive sheep production in the Near East, 1983 (E* F*) Integrating crops and livestock in West Africa, 1983 ( E* F*) Animal energy in agriculture in Africa and Asia, 1984 ( E/F* S*) Olive by-products for animal feed, 1985 (Ar* E* F* S*) Animal genetic resources conservation by management, data banks and training, 1984 (E*) Animal genetic resources: cryogenic storage of germplasm and molecular engineering, 1984 (E*) Maintenance systems for the dairy plant, 1984 (E*) Livestock breeds of China, 1985 (E*) Rfrigration du lait la ferme et organisation des transports, 1985 ( F*) La fromagerie et les varits de fromages du bassin mditerrann, 1985 ( F*) Manual for the slaughter of small ruminants in developing countries, 1985 ( E*) Better utilization of crop residues and by-products in animal feeding: research guidelines 1. State of knowledge, 1985 (E*) Better utilization of crop residues and by-products in animal feeding: research guidelines 2. A practical manual for research workers, 1986 (E*) Dried salted meats: charque and carne-de-sol, 1985 (E*) Small-scale sausage production, 1985 (E*) Slaughterhouse, cleaning and sanitation, 1985 (E*) Small ruminants in the Near East: Vol. I Selected papers presented at Tunis Expert Consultation, 1986 ( E*) Small ruminants in the Near East: Vol. II selected papers from World Animal Review, 1986 (E* Ar *) Sheep and goats in Pakistan, 1985 (E*) Awassi sheep, 1985 (E*) Small ruminant production in the developing countries, 1986 ( E*) Animal genetic resources data banks, 1986 (E*) 1. Computer systems study for regional data banks

59/2. Animal genetic resources data banks, 1986 (E*) 2. Descriptor lists for cattle, buffalo,

pigs, sheep and goats 59/3. Animal genetic resources data banks, 1986 (E*) 3. Descriptor lists for poultry 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67/1. Sheep and goats in Turkey, 1986 (E*) The Przewalski horse and restoration to its natural habitat in Mongolia, 1986 ( E*) Milk and dairy products: production and processing costs, 1988 ( E* F* S*) Proceedings of the FAO expert consultation on the substitution of imported concentrate feeds in animal production systems in developing countries, 1987 (E*) Poultry management and diseases in the Near East, 1987 (Ar*) Animal genetic resources of the USSR, 1989 (E*) Animal genetic resources strategies for improved use and conservation, 1987 (E*) Trypanotolerant cattle and livestock development in West and Central Africa Vol I. 1987 (E*)

67/2. Trypanotolerant cattle and livestock development in West and Central Africa 1987 ( E*) 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. Crossbreeding bos indicus and bos taurus for milk production in the tropics, 1987 (E*) Village milk processing, 1988 (E* F*) Sheep and goat meat production in the humid tropics of West Africa, 1988 ( E/F*) The development of village-based sheep production in West Africa, 1988 (E* F* S*) Sugarcane as feed, 1988 (E/S*) Standard design for small-scale modular slaughterhouses, 1988 (E*) Small ruminants in the Near East, Volume III: North Africa, 1988 ( E*) The eradication of ticks, 1989 (E/F*) Ex situ cryoconservation of genomes and genes of endangered cattle breeds by means of modern biotechnological methods, 1989 (E*) Training manual for embryo transfer in cattle, 1991 (E*) Milking, milk production hygiene and udder health, 1989 (E*) Manual of simple methods of meat preservation, 1989 (E*) Animal genetic resources a global programme for sustainable development, 1990 (E*) Veterinary diagnostic bacteriology a manual of laboratory procedures of selected diseases of livestock, 1990 (E*) Reproduction in camels a review, 1990 (E*) Training manual on artificial insemination in sheep and goats, 1991 ( E*) Training manual for embryo transfer in water-buffaloes, 1991 (E*) The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, 1990 ( E*) Feeding dairy cows in the tropics, 1990 (E*) Manual for the production of anthrax and blackleg vaccines, 1991 ( E*) Small ruminant production and the small ruminant genetic resource in tropical Africa,

1991 (E*) 89. 90. 91. 92. Manual for the production of Marek's disease, Gumboro disease and inactivated Newcastle disease vaccines, 1991 (E*) Application of biotechnology to nutrition of animals in developing countries, 1991 ( E*) Guidelines for slaughtering, meat cutting and further processing, 1991 ( E*) Manual on meat cold store operation and management, 1991 (E*)

Availability: July 1991 Ar Arabic C Chinese E English F French S Spanish * Available ** Out of print *** In preparation

The FAO Technical Papers are available through the authorized FAO Sales Agents or directly from Distribution and Sales Section, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.