Produce ripening apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A produce-ripening apparatus comprising:
- a ripening chamber with front, rear and side walls, a floor and a ceiling;
the ripening chamber having design dimensions for containment of a pallet rack of a desired size and for providing design circulation of controlled atmosphere exterior to the pallet rack;
a door in a desired wall of the ripening chamber;
design airtightness of the ripening chamber with the door closed;
design thermal insulation of the walls, ceiling and floor of the ripening chamber;
an atmosphere conditioner in atmosphere-conditioning relationship to space inside of the ripening chamber;
at least two rack pillars of the pallet rack spaced apart a distance to receive two pallets juxtaposed on opposite sides of a central circulation section and to allow design side clearance intermediate outside lateral edges of the two pallets and inside lateral edges of the rack pillars;
the pallet rack being extended in length to receive a design plurality of juxtaposed pallets end-to-end;
the rack pillars being extended a vertical distance to receive at least one tier of produce crates stacked on the two pallets;
horizontal rack structure extended intermediate the rack pillars at a position vertically above the produce crates;
at least one top horizontal baffle positioned centrally on the horizontal rack structure;
at least one pressurizer positioned centrally on the top horizontal baffle and having fluid communication with conditioned atmosphere provided by the atmosphere conditioner;
at least one pressurization conveyance in fluid communication intermediate the pressurizer and the central circulation section; and
circulation seal means in sealing relationship between the top horizontal baffle and a high-pressure plenum in a return conveyance to the pressurizer respectively for each of the design plurality of juxtaposed pallets from-end-to-end of the pallet rack.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A produce-ripening room (1) has a pallet rack (8) designed to support one or more modular pairs of two loaded pallets (11) juxtaposed side-by-side with a select space between them for central distribution of conditioned atmosphere under pressure throughout produce crates (12) positioned on the pallets (11). The modular pairs of two loaded pallets (11) can be one-to-three tiers high, up to twelve tiers deep and as many tiers wide as desired stacked bin boxes may be substituted for the pallets. A top horizontal baffle (22) is positioned vertically above and extended from end-to-end over depth of the select space between the modular pairs of two loaded pallets (11) and seals (26, 27, 36, 37) are positioned on four sides of the select space to provide a central high-pressure plenum (25, 34) for a first embodiment. For a second embodiment, the top horizontal baffle (22) is extended over the entire pallet rack and valves (50) can be positioned at sides to create a chamber high-pressure central plenum (47) throughout the space occupied by stacked produce crates (12) in addition to central high-pressure plenums. A third embodiment omits the central high-pressure plenums and employs central pressure supply throughout the chamber plenum for a form of low-temperature pressure-processing of all types of produce in all types of crates. A closed-circuit color-television camera or optical sensor (58) and instrumentation (59) can provide remote observation and control.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A produce-ripening apparatus comprising:
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a ripening chamber with front, rear and side walls, a floor and a ceiling; the ripening chamber having design dimensions for containment of a pallet rack of a desired size and for providing design circulation of controlled atmosphere exterior to the pallet rack; a door in a desired wall of the ripening chamber; design airtightness of the ripening chamber with the door closed; design thermal insulation of the walls, ceiling and floor of the ripening chamber; an atmosphere conditioner in atmosphere-conditioning relationship to space inside of the ripening chamber; at least two rack pillars of the pallet rack spaced apart a distance to receive two pallets juxtaposed on opposite sides of a central circulation section and to allow design side clearance intermediate outside lateral edges of the two pallets and inside lateral edges of the rack pillars; the pallet rack being extended in length to receive a design plurality of juxtaposed pallets end-to-end; the rack pillars being extended a vertical distance to receive at least one tier of produce crates stacked on the two pallets; horizontal rack structure extended intermediate the rack pillars at a position vertically above the produce crates; at least one top horizontal baffle positioned centrally on the horizontal rack structure; at least one pressurizer positioned centrally on the top horizontal baffle and having fluid communication with conditioned atmosphere provided by the atmosphere conditioner; at least one pressurization conveyance in fluid communication intermediate the pressurizer and the central circulation section; and circulation seal means in sealing relationship between the top horizontal baffle and a high-pressure plenum in a return conveyance to the pressurizer respectively for each of the design plurality of juxtaposed pallets from-end-to-end of the pallet rack. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification