Put your questions to our food and beverage experts, and discover how our ACCU-CHILL combo chiller can benefit your operations
ACCU-CHILL CC - Combo Chiller for Bulk Foods
Bulk Product Optimally Chilled for Improved Quality and Safety
Discover how our ACCU-CHILL® combo chiller provides rapid chilling to inhibit the bacterial growth that can compromise food quality and safety
Consistent Results - Bin After Bin
Animal proteins such as meat, poultry and seafood must be rapidly and evenly chilled at packaging plants for storage and onward shipping. In many cases, carbon dioxide (CO2) snow, CO2 pellets or water ice are manually added to combo bins to bulk chill these products. However, these methods come with a number of drawbacks including:
- Inconsistent temperatures within and across bins, resulting in hot spots and frozen spots
- The need to use holding freezers or extend holding time to equilibrate
- The manual effort involved in shoveling water ice or CO2 pellets
- Elevated CO2 levels at the packaging plant due to the sublimation of the CO2 snow or pellets
All of which can result in safety and quality issues, production bottlenecks and unnecessary cost due to the return of out-of-spec products.
Our ACCU-CHILL combo chiller was developed specifically to overcome these challenges by automating the consistent, precise delivery of CO2 snow during the packing of product into bulk bins. Snow and product are layered evenly, avoiding over-cooling and hot spots in the bin. This significantly improves product quality, yield, and incidents of out-of-specification products.
How Does the ACCU-CHILL CC Work?
The combo bin is rolled into place within the ACCU-CHILL CC. Product is fed from the conveyor belt onto a slotted turntable equipped with wiper arms. This turntable moves slowly as it evenly distributes the product throughout the combo bin. At the same time, a bank of specially designed snow horns sweeps over the combo bin. The horns automatically convert liquid carbon dioxide (LIC) into fine CO2 snow and this is smoothly distributed over the animal protein inside the bin.
The production of CO2 snow is dynamic. This means the control system automatically adjusts the CO2 snow rate to accommodate variations in product feed speeds, incoming temperature profiles and target temperatures. This proprietary variable chilling feature uses a weighing scale to assess the incoming product. It then sends an automatic signal to the CO2 control valve so the CO2 snow volume is precisely aligned with each layer of product as weighed. This helps avoid wastage of valuable cryogens.
Once the bin has been layered with CO2 snow and product, it is removed from the ACCU-CHILL combo chiller and placed in cold storage or sent to a downstream processing area.
How Does the ACCU-CHILL CC Benefit my Packing Operations?
The ACCU-CHILL combo chiller is designed to deliver rapid, effective heat transfer. CO2 snow provides more complete contact and more effective heat transfer than dry ice pellets, resulting in a more consistent temperature while also preventing bacterial growth that can compromise food quality and safety. Other highlights include
- Production flexibility
Suited to a wide variety of products and different types of bins including cardboard and plastic - Accurate and consistent temperature
Patented control system is designed for accurate, consistent temperatures with variations of 1-2°C (2-3°F) or less within a single combo bin and across batches - Improved quality
Elimination of hot and cold spots for improved product quality - Automatic operation
Elimination of the labor, handling, and storage issues associated with dry ice pellets or water ice - Cryogen efficiency
Dynamic adjustment of CO2 feed rate to variable product fill rates and temperatures - Cost savings and productivity gains
Fewer product returns, no cryogen wastage, reduced product shrinkage losses, greater productivity thanks to faster equilibrium and enhanced downstream processing efficiencies - Improved safety standards for heathier work environment
Removal of CO2 vapor from the processing area through built-in exhaust vent
We provide a total system solution including the ACCU-CHILL combo chiller and reliable, cost-effective supply of carbon dioxide cryogen.