How Good Do You Understand Cold Room?


HOW GOOD DO YOU
UNDERSTAND COLD ROOM?

Dear Foodenthupreneurs,

Do you feel that your Cold Room or the Refrigeration Equipment are very complicated to handle and when they give problem, its not your cup of tea or you don't want to look into it? If Yes, We will make it as simple as operating a new smart phone. When you will know the equipment, you will understand how to make the best use of it and also what exactly is the problem.

 To begin with this in this first session we will discuss and understand some basics of what is Cold Room & its type.

Refrigeration: It is cooling of a Space, Substance or System to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient temperature. This heat is rejected in the atmosphere at higher temperature. Refrigeration is generally used to preserve food & other items for short or long duration. It is also a crucial part of various processing application in food and other industries.  

Cold Room: It is a large Refrigerated Room / Building / Warehouse designed for storage of goods in an environment below the outdoor temperature.




Classification of Cold Room:

1.     Size:

Based on the sizes the Cold Room can be classified into:

a)   Small Cold Room (Modular Cold Room): can be of sizes as small as 6’x6’ or 5’x6’, typically called as Walk-In-Cold Rooms. These are generally closed to end consumers’ location like in Hotels, Food Courts, Super Markets, Malls, Distribution centres, etc.
b)    Big Cold Storages: These are Multi-purpose type and the capacities ranging from 10,000 MT to 25,000 MT. They have number of chambers ranging from 4 to 50 Nos. and are generally located near the producing area in Villages or market place in cities.




2.     Temperature:

Based on the temperature range maintained in the Cold Room, it can be classified into (These names may vary slightly from market to market):

a)   Cool Room (+15 °C to +20 °C): Now a days these are used typically for Pharma or Chocolate applications, wherein it is difficult to bring the temperature below +19 °C ~ +18 °C with Air-Conditioning machines.
b)   Chiller Room (+2 °C to +8 °C): It is typically used for storing Vegetables, Fruits, Flowers, Pharma Products, Blood, Fresh Veg, Non-Veg for Short or long duration depending on product.
c)   Freezer Room (-18 °C to -25 °C): It is typically used for storing Frozen products, Meat, Fish, Ice-Cream, etc. for longer duration.
d)  Blast Chiller (-5 °C to +4 °C): These are typically used for bringing the product temperature rapidly to the range of +2 °C ~ +8 °C from high Temperature within 2 to 4 Hrs. or more depending on the product and the process.
e)   Blast Freezer (-30 °C to -40 °C): These are typically to lower the product temperature rapidly to the range of -18 °C ~ -22 °C from a positive temperature within 2 to 4 Hrs. or more depending on the product and the process.
f)  Ripening Chambers (+15 °C to +22°C): These are typically used for ripening of fruits like Banana / Mango with Ethylene dosage.



3.     Refrigeration System:

Based on the Refrigeration system, the Cold Room can be classified into:

a) Air Cooled Hermetic System: These Cold Rooms have refrigeration system with Hermetically Sealed compressor. These are easy to handle, cheaper and mostly used for Chiller applications. Apart from reciprocation, scroll units are also used now a days because of less noise & less failures compared to reciprocating compressors.
b)  Air Cooled Semi – Hermetic System: These Cold Rooms have refrigeration system with Semi - Hermetic Compressor. These are site / workshop repairable. These are more rugged and majorly used for negative applications or for blast application. But they are also used for plus application in Hotels and few other places.
c) Water Cooled Units. These are typically used when the outdoor location for Air cooled system are far away or pipe routing is difficult and water / chilled water is available all along the year near the Cold Room.



So we have discussed about the broad classifications of Cold Rooms based on few of its features. These are in themselves suggestive about the applications where they can be used. But to make the most of this technology, we need to understand its applications in greater details. I would be taking that up in the blog to follow, so that it becomes easy for you all to relate to your own businesses and think of where and how and why you would need a cold room.

Do let me know about your views on this post. I would be happy to get your feedbacks and try to incorporate them in my next blog.

Till then, Eat Healthy, Serve Healthy!!

About the Blogger



Kiran Kshirsagar (Co-Founder)
FROZCULINA Tech Services

E-mail: frozculina@gmail.com


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