Frost management in freezing units and storage

CONTEXT

In order to limit the accumulation of frost in freezing units and storage at negative product temperatures, regular defrosting is essential. However, these defrosting operations have a significant impact on the food industry since they represent an additional energy cost and a loss of productivity.

OBJECTIVE

To provide new knowledge on the most commonly used defrosting systems in the agri-food industry and to better identify the issues related to the formation of frost on equipment from an energy, health and economic standpoint.

They funded the project

About the
project

This research project begins with a bibliographical study of current practices related to the sizing and operation of defrosting systems, as well as the mechanisms of frost formation, advanced defrosting controls or materials that slow down frost formation.

A field survey will then contribute to the development of a methodology to evaluate the energy and quality impact of the different defrosting solutions.

520 000€ OVERALL BUDGET
2017 LABELLING YEAR

Expected results

The data resulting from this research will be used to build a digital simulation model in order to obtain the exchange surface, the defrosting power, the air flow rate, its temperature and humidity...

Expected benefits of the project are:

  • increase equipment productivity: reduce freezer downtime;
  • improving the energy efficiency of freezing operations
  • to reduce product quality losses (organoleptic and microbiological) related to evaporator defrosting;
  • improve site safety (falling ice blocks, equipment damage).

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