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REFRIGERATION
Page 123
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now a more practical proposition
AITER a prolonged period in which little success has attended efforts to make refrigeration practical on vehicles of moderate ;size, without comparatively heavy capital outlay, rapid progress is now being indicated in certain directions. It now appears probable that, in the near future, ordinary retailers will be able to purchase reliable vehicles for this purpose, so completing the chain by which foodstuffs carried in ships, railway trains and motors need never rise in temperature much above the freezing point of water throughout their long journeys from the original cold storage.
Spurting Motor Bodies, Ltd.; Hendon, London, N.W.9, has collaborated with General Motors, Ltd., Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd.,. and Frigidaire, Ltd., in experimental work, the outcome of which is the offering of refrigeration vehicles at attractive prices. For example, vehicles incorporating the Bedford short-wheelbase 2-ton chassis are to be sold at prices from about £436.
The possibilities of two distinct freezing systems can be examined in a Bedford demonstrator, the body of which Spurling Motor Bodies, Ltd., has built particularly for the ice-cream trade. It has two separate compartments; one illustrates the use of the "dry ice" method, in which solid carbon dioxide (1J05), costing from 2d. to 3d. per lb., is employed. This material can be delivered in special containers in which it evaporates at the rate of only about 2-k. per cent. in 24 hours. While in use in the demonstrator vehicle, 15 lb. should last for a 10-hour working day when operating on short distances and opening doors about four times per hour. Each compartment of the vehicle will hold 50 gallons of ice-cream.
The carbon-dioxide gas may be allowed into the refrigerating compartment to act as a preservative, or air alone may be admitted.
The other compartment includes a mechanical unit designed to ,operate in connection with Eutectic ice. The plant itself is a Frigidaire product, and its electric motor is connected by flex to a wall plum so that during garage hours, i.e., at night, the main electricity supply Operates the plant, freezing the Eutectic ice in each compartment and reducing the interior temperature of the body to about 15 degrees P. By the morning the vehicle is ready for 10 hours of road service, and the cold chamber will hold a temperature of about 33 degrees F.
At an extra cost of approximately £50 the same equipment can be meranged to be driven during the day from a power take-off from the gearbox; by this means a temperature of 5 degrees F. can be held throughout the day.
The body incorporates in its double walls, which are 5 ins. apart, Alfol insulation, to which reference has often been made in this journal during the past year or so. This comprises several layers of aluminium foil of approximately 3-10,000ths in. thick. The insulation value is proved to be of a high order, and the material for a 2-ton twocompartment vehicle weighs not more The inside and outside panels are metal-faced and the refrigeration compartments are hermetically sealed. The interior can be hosed for cleaning purposes. The floor is of hardwood, 1 in. thick, and is sealed and prOtected. 'The doors are of the wedge-closing type, with sponge-rubber seating, and are closed with Cassey spring-loaded hasps. Each compartment of this demonstration vehicle has a capacity of about 60 cubic ft.
In connection with the Eutectic method, it is claimed that the plant requires practically no attention except the periodical inspection of the compressor. The Eutectic solution does not need to be changed, the plant can operate day after day indefinitely, and upkeep and power costs should not exceed 2s. 6d. a day, whilst the vehicle is in active service.
With the carbon-dioxide system, the early difficulty was to control the rate of evaporation, upon which the temperature depends. Evaporators can now be built at low cost which contra' the temperature with accuracy. The use of the. resultant gas to provide an inert aseptic atmosphere of a definitely preservative nature Lea new development.