Nijssen delivers Filacell units to Goossens Flevoplant
"Quality significantly improved by cooling strawberry plants"
Early in the morning the strawberry plants are dug up with as much of the ground as possible and sorted into the cubic containers. Every cool cell offers enough room for around 200 boxes of 300 to 400 kg plants per crate. The Filacell air handling units work with Freon R407C DX, a refrigerant, and have a cold nominal capacity of just 48 kW. Every hour 24,000m3 air and 64m3 water is blown through. The constant temperature ensures high humidity so that the strawberry plants are cooled back from +7 to -12°C, within 24-36 hours and a final central temperature of +1°C.
Quick and safely
The Nijssen Filacell® system stands apart and is widely recognised as the safest and fastest cooling system in the world. It cools and humidifies the air simultaneously using cold water, therefore, expelled air can never be lower than 0°C. On top of this, the system contains an internal ice store and large cold buffer which ensures products are quickly chilled. Thanks to the optimum heat transfer between water and air, humidity remains around 99% and there is no moisture lost from the plant, either as condensation or freezing of product.
For cool walls
The units are placed in close collaboration with Goossens Flevoplant's inhouse installers. Nijssen have given advice over positioning and sizing of every cool wall to optimise the cooling process. For each extraction site there are three inlets and the edges are sealed with foam pads. The location of the openings is dependent on the cubic container's measurements. The cooling walls are installed by third parties after the Filacell system has been placed.
Extra fans
There are extra axial mounted support fans on both sides of the Filacell units. These are in use during the pre-cooling process. They suck the forced cold air through the boxes of strawberry plants. During the storage phase support fans are turned off or to prevent airflow during storage the fans can be 'closed off' as the fans are equipped with self closing flaps on the outside.
Quality improvement made
"By installing the Filacell units we have improved quality," said director Jos Goossens. We can cool the strawberry plants a lot faster with reduced risk of dehydration. This system represents a vast improvement to our old cold storage system."
For more information:
Nijssen Koeling BV
Leiden
+31 (0)71 – 5216214
[email protected]
www.nijssen.com
