Prediction of Air Movement and Temperature Distribution at Different Store Methods Using 3-D CFD Simulation in Forced-Air Cooling Facility

Temperature is the most influential environment parameter which affects the quality change of agricultural products in cold storage. Therefore, it is essential to keep the uniform temperature distribution in the storage room. This study was performed to analyze the air movement and temperature distribution in the forced recirculating cold storage facility and to simulate optimum storage method of green groceries using 3-D CFD(three dimensional computational fluid dynamics) computer simulation which applied the standard $textsc{k}$-$\varepsilon$ turbulence model and FVM(finite volume method). The simulation was validated by the experimental results for onion storage and the simulation model was used to simulate the temperature and velocity distribution in the storage room with reference to the change of storage method such as location of storage, no stores, bulk storage, and pallet storage. In case of no stores, internal airflow was circulated without stagnation and consequently air movement and temperature distribution were uniform. In case of bulk storage, air movement was stagnated so much and temperature distribution of onion was not uniform. Furthermore, the inner temperature of onion roses more than the initial temperature of storage. In case of pallet storage, air movement and temperature distribution of onion were so uniform that the danger of quality change was decreased.