Eco-efficient cooling and ripening facilities for the fruit and vegetable industry

The company Frío Vizcayahas successfully finished the complete rebuild of the banana ripening facilities of Frutas IRU S.A.in Mercabilbao, the wholesale market in Bilbao, Spain. These facilities operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and offer service to 15 banana ripening chambers, where also other tropical fruits (avocados, mangoes, ...) are ripened. Frío Vizcaya was founded in 1990. It counts on a team with high capacity to undertake, with the maximum guarantee and technology, any service related to cooling and air conditioning. The company focuses on industrial and commercial refrigeration facilities. It has a Technical Department that covers engineering, technical assistance, maintenance and building. Technology installed in the facilities from Frutas IRU For the control of ripening- and coldrooms, Frío Vizcaya has implemented for Frutas Iru the technology of VDH Products. This Dutch company, leading in the world, has extensive experience in the control of ripening and storage fruits and vegetables. In this rebuild, the latest ripeningsystem PROBA 5 has been installed, which allows to regulate the entire ripening process, gas concentration, humidity, fan speed and pressure regulation, according to the requirements of Frutas IRU. With the Proba 5 system, a significant improvement in the final quality of the product has been achieved, since the control of the fruit during the ripening process have been increased. The installation can be operated from any computer or mobile device, receiving alarms from deviations in temperatures or technical stops. "SUPERINVERTER" technology The state-of-the-art cooling installation and uses SUPERINVERTER technology from Frío Vizcaya. With this technology, energy savings of 35% compared to a conventional installation can be achieved; the runout of the equipment is also reduced, which implies a greater duration. This installation has been designed to work with low PCA refrigerants (low heating potential) and reduced gas loads. The evaporators are oversized to achieve optimum humidity for the product to be processed. They are made of stainless steel and have high pressure fans with variable EC technology (latest generation). More information Frío Vizcaya, www.friovizcaya.com VDH Products, www.vdhproducts.com Pictures 1 - Refrigeration systems with SUPERINVERTER technology to achieve big savings 2 - Ripening chambers in Bizkaia 3 - Electric control panel for the conservation of fruits and vegetables 4 - VDH Proba 5 monitoring and control system of the ripening chambers.