Improvements in or relating to a method of air conditioning in a closed chamber containing perishable foodstuffs to be preserved and equipment for carrying out the same

摘要

715,765. Preserving food. BARBIERI, E. Sept. 25, 1951 [Sept. 26, 1950], No. 22428/51. Class 49 In preserving perishable foods, e.g. fruits and vegetables, which give off ethylene and other gases harmful to preservation, the air of the chamber containing the food is circulated and made to pass into contact with a substance which eliminates, without chemical reaction, at least the ethylene of the gases harmful to preservation, and means are provided for regulating the temperature of the air, for humidifying it, and for contacting it with a disinfecting agent.' Solid substances which eliminate ethylene are exemplified by activated carbon prepared from wood or sugar, metallic copper, nickel and iron, and grains of aluminium, titanium and zinc oxides; liquid substances which eliminate ethylene are exemplified by water and cyclohexanol; the disinfecting agent is exemplified by hydrogen peroxide. With the apparatus of Fig. 1, the air of a closed storage chamber A is drawn at 2 into a duct 3 by means of a suction device 1, passed into one or the other of charcoal towers 5 and 6, through a humidity-regulating device 8, a temperature-regulating device 9 and a disinfecting device 10, and returned at 11 into the chamber A. With the apparatus of Fig. 2, the air of a storage chamber B is drawn at 13 into a duct 14 by means of a compresser 12, passed as bubbles, formed by a grate 17, through water in a container 16, through a humidity-regulating device 21, a temperatureregulating device 22 and a disinfecting device 23 and returned at 24 into the chamber B.