Applied Engineering in Agriculture · 2002 · 39 citations · 0 references
A family of standard, reusable, and recyclable plastic containers for handling, storing, and transportinghorticultural crops, from field to market, has been developed. These containers can be used in precooling fruits andvegetables. The multipurpose use of these containers places a constraint on the design of the wall openings. The present studyis aimed at determining the width of the openings on the container surface to maximize efficiency during forced air precoolingof horticultural crops. The results show that opening widths of 3.2 to 12.7 mm on the surface of the containers have a negligibleeffect on pressure drop during air circulation through container walls. However, the relative surface area of the openings hasan important effect on air circulation and should cover approximately 25% of the container walls.