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It's time to renew cold acquaintances

14th May 1983, Page 22
14th May 1983
Page 22
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Page 22, 14th May 1983 — It's time to renew cold acquaintances
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The mecca next week for those in the chilled and frozen food business is Wembley Conference Centre where the 1983 Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution Exhibition is being staged. David Wilcox provides a preview

THE TEMPERATURE Controlled Storage and Distribution Exhibition may be quite a mouthful but at least it is more descriptive than following the current trend and calling it something like Chilly-Ex 83.

The last TCS&D Exhibition was held in 1981 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham but this year it has come south to the Wembley Conference Centre in North London and runs from Wednesday May 18 through to Friday May 20.

There are almost 50 companies exhibiting at Wembley, all providing products and services for the transport and storage of perishable foods that need careful temperature control.

Predictably, the majority of exhibitors are on the vehicle side of the industry and most of the big names are there.

Boalloy is launching an insulated version of its Localiner delivery body. It has a combination of sidecurtains with small sliding doors at each end to give maximum side access combined with speed of opening. This makes it highly suitable for multi-drop distribution and this new insulated version was primarily developed for the dairy industry.

The model on display is the smallest in the range and is on a Sherpa chassis. Fitted with a Petter HYX fridge unit, it is capable of maintaining 4 degrees Centigrade for chilled and fresh deliveries.

An improved version of Boal

loy's insulated curtainsider, the lnsuliner, is also on display. It has greater thermal insulation than the original model but has not lost any internal volume. The body weight has also been slightly reduced.

Doncaster-based trailer manufacturers Carrymaster is showing three vehicles, two semitrailers and a rigid boxvan. The first trailer is a 12.2m (40ft) reefer in Express Dairies livery and is a tandem-axle model with Weweler air suspension and a lifting front axle.

The other trailer is destined for Tesco's fleet but is a dry freight boxvan with RO-R/Neway air suspension and Carrymaster's own power-operated landing legs.

Carrymaster's rigid body at the exhibition is on a Leyland Freighter chassis in Dairy Crest colours. Its grp insulated body has a Petter fridge unit and a Henderson insulated rear shutter.

Tidd Strongbox of St Neots be showing one of its 12.2m )efer semi-trailers with an insulted rear shutter and stainless :eel rear-frame and fittings. The de panels are one-piece units (ith a four inch (10cm) thick 3ndwich construction — grpdnned plywood with 84mm 3.3in) of polyurethane foam in...dation. The show example has Petter PDL 50 refrigeration ,'stem.

Manufacturer of one-piece anels ,for reefer bodies, oncargo of Weston-superlare, is showing what it says is le first UK-made "thin-wall" anel for bodies capable of ATP :lass C certification. The overall iickness of the wall panel is just 3mm (1.3n), giving more in?rnal width; the roof and floor lust be thicker in order to cornensate.

Concargo is also introducing t the exhibition an aluglos exteior finish for those bodybuilders nd customers who prefer an luminium-faced panel rather nan grp skinning. This has a ine-piece pre-painted aluninium skin bonded to the plyvood.

Bodybuilder Wilsdon & Co. of ;olihull is focusing attention on :s door systems and seals in the ielief that these are very often he weakest point on reefer bolies. Wilsdon's doors are noulded in variable jigs and so an be produced in a wide range rf sizes. The company is also low producing an insulated tandard panel van conversion. Wadham Stringer Victory aclured the specialist reefer body uilder Zeromobile in April last 'ear and is now building the bolies at its own Portsmouth facory. On show at the exhibition vill be a grp/plywood sandwich

panel body of the Zeromobile design, mounted on a MercedesBenz LP813 chassis cab.

A company specialising in the conversion of panel vans into insulated and refrigerated models is GRP Cooltrucks of Farsley near Leeds. On this company's stand will be an example of the work in the form of a Mercedes-Benz 307D fully converted for frozen foods.

It uses 7.6cm (3in) slab polyurethane insulation and is lined with laminated grp to give a joint-free interior surface, guaranteed for two years.

The Mercedes has a grp high roof extension made by Cooltrucks which is 40kg lighter than the Mercedes optional steel high roof. The fridge unit fitted is a Hubbard 460EL with an electric overnight standby unit and an automatic defrost.

One of several fridge unit manufacturers present at the Exhibition will be Hubbard Engineering, which will be displaying its range of refrigeration units and air conditioning equipment.

All the models share one point in common — they are powered by a drive taken from the vehicle's gearbox or engine (or mains electric standby), rather than a small independent engine.

On show will be a number of recent additions to the Hubbard range such as the 485 hydraulic fridge unit for small/medium bodies and the HC17 air-conditioning evaporator for small vehicles carrying perishables which may need cooling in the summer and warming in the winter. Hubbard will also be showing its CT200 high-capacity cab-top air-conditioner for large cabs in particularly hot climates.

Perhaps one of the more unsual exhibits at Wembley will be on the stand of D. A. Werber. It is the Cold-Mobil, a small insulated trailer that can be towed behind a car or van. When parked it can be plugged into a mains electricity supply so that it becomes a small mobile fridge or cold store. Refrigeration on the move is achieved by a Honda petrol donkey engine powering the trailer's own integral fridge unit.

There are two models: the 130 for payloads up to half a ton and the 400 for one-ton payloads. The trailers are made by Coolfreeze Refrigeration of Manchester and distributed by D. A. Werber of Harrow.

In addition to the vehicles themselves there are all types of equipment related to temperature-controlled handling and storage. For example, Nefab Plywoodembatlage of Brackmills, Northamptonshire, is showing its Thermotainer insulated roll pallet which enables chilled or frozen goods to be carried on a non-insulated vehicle — ideal if you have mixed loads or only occasionally handle chilled products.

The Thermotainers are only insulated and have no fridge equipment but providing they are at least 60 per cent full the temperature change is typically just 0.25 degrees Centigrade per hour. The standard size model has a capacity of 0.48cum (17cuft) and this is now supplemented by a larger version with a capacity of 1A7cum (52cuft). Thermotainers are on steel pallet bases and have an aluminium skinned body with polyurethane insulation. They can also be used for products that need to be kept warm.

If you want to measure and record the temperature or humidity levels in buildings or vehicles then it could be worth paying a visit to the stand of Grant Instruments of Cambridge.

This company is exhibiting three types of battery-operated recorders to take the necessary readings. One makes the recordings on a paper chart, the second uses a solid-state memory bank and the third uses a conventional audio cassette. They are all intermittent so that they switch on their own recording mechanisms at preset intervals, prolonging battery life.

Tempex Industrial Safety Products of Leighton Buzzard is showing what the best-dressed cold store employee should be wearing this year. New at the exhibition is a safety helmet designed for low temperature uses, plus thermal gloves and soft gloves for those who have to work in a cold store and yet still be able to hold a pen or pencil.

There are several foreign manufacturers represented at this year's exhibition, including Huurre Oy of Finland. This company makes all types of refrigerated and cold storage from the home freezer right up to the industrial cold store. And the range even includes mortuaries.

Clark Door of Carlisle is exhibiting two models from its range of cold store doors. Both are power-operated so that opening and closing is done as quickly as possible to minimise energy loss. Fermod coldstore door mechanisms and fittings will also be at the exhibition, together with the equivalent fittings for the vehicles' doors.

Among the companies offering services for the temperature-controlled industry are several of the vehicle rental operators. Ryder Truck Rental is using its presence at the Exhibition to let visitors know that it can now provide refrigerated box vehicles for rental. The V canton Group stand is pron ing its vehicle rental service, chilled distribution operat and the group's bodybuilc company, which specialises building refrigerated bodies.

Another company offer chilled distribution is Westi house Cool Storage of M a nch ter. This company is part of Transport Development Gri and its distribution service ers for goods down to 0 degr Centigrade. The area it cover the North, Midlands and Nc Wales. To support this, WCS a 113,000cum (4 million c cold store at Manchester wit variety of temperature a humidity levels in its five chi. bers.

The Temperature-Control Storage and Distribution Exh tion is open on Wednesday Thursday (May 18 and 19) fr 10am to opm and on the I day, Friday, from 10am u 3pm. Agriculture, Fisheries E. Food Minister Alick Buchan Smith, MP, is to declare officially open at noon on Wednesday and the organis are expecting around 5,000 v tors during the three days. ) mission is free and there ample car parking space Wembley Conference Centre.


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