Four Seasons Produce

Date

May 2018

Location

Ephrata, PA
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Project

Ripening Room Retrofit

Product

Banana
Advanced Ripening Technologies Ltd (ART) was approached by Four Seasons Produce in 2017 with a view to improving their existing ripening rooms at their facility in Ephrata, PA. Over the following months ART visited site and made recommendations and options on how to enhance the equipment and provide additional features.

We worked with the client to determine what issues they were experiencing and why they had come to the decision to investigate what options were available to them. Which included –

  • Leaking and blocked evaporator coils
  • Lack of airflow
  • Large temperature fluctuation across the pallet (resulting in turning the pallet during ripening cycles)
  • Difficulty in accessing machinery for cleaning & maintenance
  • Lack of connectivity

In November 2018 Four Seasons Produce appointed ART to retrofit the first 4 rooms which included the following items and provide the additional benefits.

  • New evaporator coils with Stainless Steel tubes, EC reversible fans and hinged access plates for ease of maintenance.
  • Stainless Steel valve stations with EPIV control valves to provide precise flow regulation and monitoring through the SmartHarvest control system.
  • New control panels equipped with energy meters and SmartHarvest controllers.
  • SmartHarvest control system c/w Ethylene & C02 sensors to provide optimum control. The control system enables remote access by multiple users from any device and personalised alarm notification. ART have remote access to the system at all times to provide technical assistance when required. 

The net result of making the changes has reduced energy consumption,  given simple connectivity and dramatically reduced temperature differentials across the pallet and therefore substantial better fruit quality.

We installed energy meters on adjacent existing rooms to compare energy usage following the changes and have monitored for 12 months. The results show that a 50% saving on power consumption is being achieved by adjusting the fan speed when the product and air temperature sensors are closer to the room setpoint.

In November 2019, Four Seasons Produce has asked ART to retrofit a further 5 rooms which will be completed in April 2020.

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