Study of Pressure Cooling of Agricultural Products Using a Pallet Bin

The handling and processing of agricultural products in Korea is done manually. Small plastic boxes, nets, and corrugated cardboard boxes are used as containers during harvesting, sorting and other product handling operations. However, these practices are labor-intensive, time-consuming, require various kinds of packing materials, and are expensive because of high operating costs. To overcome these problems, the use of pallet bins with pre-cooling and storage features for handling and processing bulk farm products was investigated. The airflow resistances through bulk potato, onion and mandarin stocks were measured, and the pallet bins and a pressure pre-cooling device were manufactured. The opening ratio, bed depth and airflow rate through bulk potato, onion and mandarin in the pallet bin were defined with regression equations. The cooling rates of bulk potato, onion and mandarin were 0.8C/h ($21.7{\rightarrow}0C$, 14.5 h), 0.4C/h ($15.4{\rightarrow}.0C$, 32.2 h) and 0.7C/h ($13.7{\rightarrow}C$, 18.8 h), respectively, with the pressure pre-cooling system. Temperature deviances for storage of bulk potato, onion and mandarin were 0.12C, 0.12C and 0.17C, respectively.

팔레트 빈(pallet bin)을 이용한 농산물의 차압통풍 냉각 연구

본 연구에서는 농산물 수집용으로 사용되는 팔레트 빈의 활용도를 높일 수 있도록 팔레트 빈의 구조를 차압통풍 예냉과 저온저장에 적용할 수 있도록 개선하였다. 감자, 양파, 감귤에 대한 팔레트 빈 밑면의 통기공 개공율에 따른 송풍저항을 측정하였으며, 팔레트 빈과 차압통풍식 냉각장치를 제작하였다. 감자, 양파, 감귤의 개공율, 퇴적높이, 송풍량 변화의 실험자료를 회귀식으로 나타내었으며, 비교적 높은 결정계수를 얻을 수 있었다. 감자, 양파, 감귤의 팔레트빈을 이용한 차압통풍 예냉시 냉각속도 및 저온저장시 냉각균일도(표준편차)를 시험한 결과, 냉각속도는 각각 $0.8^{\circ}C/hr$ ($21.7{\rightarrow}10^{\circ}C$, 14.5시간), $0.4^{\circ}C/hr$($15.4{\rightarrow}20^{\circ}C$, 32.2시간), $0.7^{\circ}C/hr$($13.7{\rightarrow}1^{\circ}C$, 18.8시간)로 나타났으며, 저온저장시 각 빈별 표준편차는 각각 $0.12^{\circ}C$, $0.12^{\circ}C$, $0.17^{\circ}C$로 나타났다.