FORCED-AIR EVAPORATIVE COOLING CHAMBER
DESIGN DOCUMENTATION
Freshly harvested fruits and vegetables in hot dry climates need to be quickly cooled for preservation. Typical cooling systems use mechanical refrigeration, which requires high capital cost and energy consumption. Evaporative cooling provides a cool and humid environment with lower energy consumption and half the cost of refrigerated cold rooms. By using cooling with forced airflow this chamber design is ideal for the pre-cooling of fruits and vegetables in dry regions. The forced-air evaporative cooling chamber detailed in these documents provides a cost-effective solution for storing fruits and vegetables in hot and dry climates.
CHAMBER OVERVIEW
One of the key features of this design is the airflow pathway.
In this system, industrial exhaust fans draw hot dry air into the chamber and is passed through a porous wet pad, causing water to evaporate and cool the air. The cool and humid air is then forced over the fruits and vegetables placed in crates inside the chamber to improve their shelf life. The air is then directed through the raised floor and to the channel between the insulation and the exterior container wall, and eventually to the exhaust holes near the top of the side walls.
The documentation provided consists of 6 sections covering the following topics:
1. Introduction
2. Dimensional Design Schematics
3. Airflow System Guidelines
4. Electrical System Guidelines
5. Plumbing System Guidelines
6. Construction Guidelines
DESIGN
DOCUMENTS
The designs and documentation for building a forced-air evaporative cooling chamber provided on this website are available free of charge. Our goal is to make this technology widely available for farmers, vendors, and businesses working in the horticulture sector to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. For additional information see the terms of use.
Please reach out to Eric Verploegen at ericv@mit.edu with any questions.
