Start Your Own Cold Storage Unit (Revised And Enlarged Edition) (Hand Book)

Start Your Own Cold Storage Unit (Revised and Enlarged Edition) (Engineers India Research Institute, ISBN 9788186732205) is a complete project guide for setting up a refrigerated cold store, combining refrigeration engineering, building design, equipment specification, priced quotations and six costed project profiles.

Opening sections set out the case for a cold storage project, covering its priority sector status under government policy, financing facilities, ease of management, the fixed asset nature of the investment, rate of return, demand for storage capacity, tax benefits and incentives, followed by a model project analysis, Indian Standards for the refrigeration industry, and selection of location.

Engineering sections cover refrigeration from first principles with the basic vapour cycle, closed, compound and cascade cycles, flash economisers, liquid recirculation, refrigerant numbering and selection, reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, condensers with heat rejection rates, evaporator types including fixed tube sheet, flooded shell and tube, spray and baffled shell, oil return, system design, instrumentation and control. Design sections cover cooling coils, hydro, forced air and vacuum cooling, condensing sets, remote condensers, insulation by board, granular, in situ, sprayed and preformed panel types with thickness determination, structure covering foundations, floor, walls, roof and ceilings, racking, vapour barrier, cold storage doors, plant capacity selection and a worked design example.

Operating sections cover optimum storage conditions for fruits and vegetables with recommended temperatures, relative humidities, storage life and freezing points, respiration heat, refrigeration load calculation, cold injury, controlled atmosphere and jacketed stores, automatic defrosting, and the storage of meat, milk, eggs and fish. Equipment sections cover ammonia compressors in double and multi cylinder forms with construction, lubrication, installation, maintenance and spares, air cooling and condensing units, ice cans, insulated doors and valves, with priced quotations for 50,000, 1,00,000 and 1,50,000 bag plants, layouts and water line diagrams for 4,000, 8,000 and 12,000 tonne plants, six project profiles and a supplier list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Start Your Own Cold Storage Unit handbook cover?

Start Your Own Cold Storage Unit (EIRI, ISBN 9788186732205) covers a cold storage project from the investment case through to plant quotations. Its main divisions are: special features of a cold storage project and a model project analysis; Indian Standards for refrigeration and air conditioning; selection of location and refrigerants with the properties of ammonia; optimum storage conditions for fruits and vegetables; principles of fresh food storage with respiration heat, storage life and freezing point data; animal product storage for meat, milk, eggs and fish; refrigeration cycles, compressors, condensers and evaporators; technical and design content on cooling, insulation, building structure and plant capacity; refrigerated cold storage design including controlled atmosphere and jacketed stores; main features and maintenance of ammonia compressors with spare parts lists; priced quotations for three plant sizes; layouts and water line diagrams for three capacities; details of plant equipment and machinery; six project profiles with plant economics; and a list of equipment suppliers.

Who is this cold storage handbook written for?

This handbook is written for readers who intend to build, finance or run a cold store rather than study refrigeration in the abstract. Its intended audience includes entrepreneurs planning a cold storage unit, existing cold store owners adding chambers or capacity, potato and onion traders and commission agents, farmer producer organisations and cooperatives planning storage for members, refrigeration contractors and consulting engineers preparing designs and tenders, plant operators and maintenance engineers running ammonia systems, food processing and frozen food companies planning captive storage, bank and financial institution appraisal officers assessing a cold storage loan proposal, horticulture department and extension officers, students of refrigeration and agricultural engineering, and consultants preparing a detailed project report.

What project economics does the book include?

Six project profiles carry full plant economics, which makes the book usable as the costing basis for a bank proposal. The units costed are: a potato cold store of 8,500 tonnes combined with 3,000 tonnes of ice slab production; a 1,000 tonne cold store; a 100 tonne frozen vegetable store; a 10,000 tonne fruit and vegetable cold store; a 1,000 tonne vegetable and fruit store; and a 600 tonne frozen vegetable store. The spread from 100 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes lets an entrant see how capital, running cost and return scale with chamber size before fixing a capacity. The profiles are supported by priced quotations for 50,000 bag, 1,00,000 bag and 1,50,000 bag plants and by design specifications for cold stores of different capacities, so the equipment cost in the economics can be traced back to a specified plant.

Who should consider starting a cold storage unit, and why?

Cold storage suits entrepreneurs in a growing belt who want an asset-backed business with recurring seasonal income, and the book opens by setting out exactly this case. The commercial logic is distinctive. A rental cold store earns a storage charge per bag or tonne without buying the produce, so the operator carries no price risk on the commodity and needs working capital only for power and staff. The investment is almost entirely in fixed assets, which lends itself to term finance, and the sector carries priority status under government policy with financing facilities, tax benefits and financial incentives, all covered in the opening chapter. Demand is underpinned by the volume of fruit and vegetables that reaches the market without any cold chain behind it, and potato storage alone gives a predictable annual cycle of intake, holding and release. Operation is straightforward once the plant is commissioned, with a daily operating log, a settled maintenance routine and no formulation or recipe risk. The book supports the decision with six costed capacities, three plant quotations, layouts and a complete design example, so a first-time entrant can size the store, specify the machinery and prepare the project report from one volume.

What design and engineering content does the book include?

Design is covered to the level needed to specify a store and check a contractor's proposal. Building content covers initial considerations, size determination, orientation and building form, space requirement, foundation, floor, wall, roof and ceiling construction, internal racking, electrical wiring, tracking and cold storage doors, with specialised designs for controlled atmosphere storage rooms and jacketed stores. Insulation content covers board and slab materials, granular and loose fill, framed in situ, sprayed on and preformed panels, vapour barrier application and insulation thickness, with a thickness graph and recommended thickness for a potato cold store. Plant content covers selection of refrigeration plant capacity and machinery, compressor and refrigerant choice, condensers, air circulation, cooling coils, hydro cooling, forced air and vacuum cooling, direct refrigeration and cooling with ambient air, load determination, air cooling units and coils and automatic defrosting. A worked design example runs from brief to solution, supported by capacity tables for different store heights and design specifications for several store sizes.

What storage condition and product data does the book provide?

Storage data is tabulated throughout, which is what an operator needs when quoting for a new commodity. Produce content covers optimum storage conditions for fruits and for vegetables, recommended temperature, relative humidity, approximate storage life and average freezing point for fruits, nuts and vegetables, desirable transit conditions for vegetables, and specific operating notes for onion, potato, tomato, lettuce, asparagus and brussels sprouts. Physiology content covers the nature of harvested crops, post harvest treatments, decay of fresh produce and decay control, heat evolved in respiration, metabolism as a function of temperature, the respiration rate of apples against temperature, specific heat of foods and refrigeration load calculation. Quality content covers cold injury and the commodities susceptible to it at moderately low temperatures, the effect of cold storage on quality with data on vitamin C loss, carotene change in sweet potato, firmness of pears, vitamin changes in stored pork and loss of sweetness in sweet corn, ammonia gas discolouration, disorders of stored foods, packaging material tests and a checklist for flexible films. Animal product content covers meat, milk, egg and fish storage with psychrotroph generation times and the bacteria responsible for spoilage at different temperatures.

What equipment, quotation and layout information does the book provide?

The book carries the commercial documents an entrant would otherwise have to assemble from suppliers. Quotation content gives priced equipment schedules for a 50,000 bag plant, a 1,00,000 bag plant and a 1,50,000 bag plant. Drawing content gives layouts for 4,000, 8,000 and 12,000 tonne plants, a layout for a 12,000 tonne and 1,50,000 bag plant, water line diagrams for 4,000, 8,000 and 12,000 tonne plants, side and top views of a 6,000 tonne plant and plant room refrigerant equipment for a 12,000 tonne capacity. Equipment content covers ammonia compressors in double cylinder and multi cylinder forms with specifications and brake horsepower and capacity ratings, ammonia air cooling units including fin type, ammonia condensing units, ice cans, insulated doors, hand hoists, agitators and valves, together with a schematic of a simple ammonia refrigeration system. A supplier list for refrigerated cold storage and allied equipment closes the book.

What ammonia plant operation and maintenance content does the book include?

Operation and maintenance are covered as a working manual, which is the part a new operator needs most once the plant is running. Compressor construction content covers the compressor body, pistons, crankshaft, connecting rods, shaft seal, water jacket and manifold, with nominal dimensions. Lubrication content covers force feed lubricating systems, the force feed oiling system, oil lubrication arrangement, the oil gauge glass arrangement and the force feed lubricator. Procedure content covers installation, compressor foundation, initial starting, stopping the compressor, periodical maintenance, cleaning the suction strainer and oil strainer, suction strainer and oil filter removal, shaft seal attention and the location of compressor operating valves. Cycle content covers the single stage ammonia refrigeration cycle with receiver, liquid control, evaporator, compressor and condenser, and the properties and mixtures of ammonia with its temperature at various sections. Troubleshooting content covers possible trouble and abnormal sounds, and the book supplies a condensed list of cold storage temperatures, a daily operating log sheet and spare parts lists for the main body, wheel and pedestal bearing assemblies.