Performance of bottom-packed evaporative cooler for high value perishables / Maribeth Sical Esteva

Thesis -- University of Rizal System, Tanay, 2015

Includes bibliographical references.

The bottom-packed evaporative cooler was designed for small capacity, short - term storage. The cooler has an overall dimension of 110 cm length, 112 cm height and 55.5 cm width. It has a storage capacity of 9 - 42 kg of high value perishables. The cooler has three parts: holding bin, monitor - type roofing and cooling unit. The products stored in the cooler, specifically, the tomato and lettuce, attained the maximum permissible weight loss for marketable perishables. The quality of tomato in terms of weight loss, visual quality and firmness is the same with the tomato stored in commercial chiller. The tomatoes are still marketable after 7 days of storage. In the same way, the weight loss and visual quality of lettuce stored in the cooler is also the same with the lettuce stored in the commercial chiller. Lettuce is still marketable after 2 days of storage. The cooler has a maximum heat load of 28.25 kJ/hr when it was stored with tomato 19.91 kJ/hr when lettuce was stored. The cooler has greater refrigeration capacity when stored with tomato than lettuce because of its greater storage capacity in terms of weight and duration of storage. The unit cost of bottom-packed evaporative cooler is P 9,422.50. Its operating cost at maximum load is P 98.87 for tomato and P 98.56 for lettuce per day. The total expenses in utilizing the cooler for tomato storage can be recovered in 1.54 years with 31.90% return on investment the payback period for the storage of lettuce is 1.53 years and a 2.42 % return in investment.

Esteva, M. S. (2015). Performance of bottom-packed evaporative cooler for high value perishables. (Unpublished thesis). University of Rizal System, Tanay