초록 ▼

In a method and apparatus for controlling the ripening of fresh fruit, a stack of fruit boxes is spiral wound with a transparent synthetic resin strip around the four vertically oriented faces of the box stack. The boxes within the stack have openings on their upper and lower faces which register wi

In a method and apparatus for controlling the ripening of fresh fruit, a stack of fruit boxes is spiral wound with a transparent synthetic resin strip around the four vertically oriented faces of the box stack. The boxes within the stack have openings on their upper and lower faces which register with corresponding openings in vertically adjacent boxes to permit a vertical movement of an air-ethylene mixture through the stack. A plastic cap or lid is disposed on top of the stack of boxes and is provided with a blower for drawing air vertically through the stack from the bottom thereof. An air-conditioning unit and an ethylene containing bottle may be disposed in a unit on which a pallet supporting the stack of boxes rests. Effluent air or a mixture of air and ethylene is fed back to the air-conditioning unit via a conduit on the outside of the wrapped stack of boxes.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for controlling the ripening of fresh produce, comprising the steps of: providing a stack of boxes containing the fresh produce, each one of said boxes being formed on an upper and a lower surface with openings registering with corresponding openings in boxes vertically adjacent said one of

A method for controlling the ripening of fresh produce, comprising the steps of: providing a stack of boxes containing the fresh produce, each one of said boxes being formed on an upper and a lower surface with openings registering with corresponding openings in boxes vertically adjacent said one of said boxes; covering four vertically oriented faces of said stack of boxes from the bottom to the top thereof with at least one substantially gas impermeable web; providing gas access means at the bottom and the top of said stack of boxes and providing the passage of a gas to and from said stack of boxes at the bottom and the top thereof; and generating a vertical pressure gradient in said stack of boxes to force said gas in a vertical direction through said stack of boxes by mechanically moving said gas vertically through the stack of boxes covered on said four vertically oriented faces; disposing a blower at one of the bottom and the top of said stack of boxes, said step of mechanically moving comprising the step of operating said blower; mounting said blower in a housing having an inlet port registering with an opening in one of an upper surface of an uppermost one of said boxes and a lower surface of a lowermost one of said boxes, said step of disposing the blower including the steps of positioning said housing on one of the bottom and the top of said stack of boxes and sealing said housing parametrically to said web.