Portable Evaporative Cooled Storage Chamber for Horticultural Produce

A portable evaporative cooled (EC) storage chamber(0.5 m³ capacity) has been developed for short term storage of fruits and vegetables. The top of the chamber was covered with a tray made up of GI sheet to serve as a small water tank. A chimney was installed over the top for improving the ventilation inside the chamber. The inside temperature of the chamber remained 1.5–3.5°C higher than the ambient wet bulb temperature. The chimney got heated maximum during peak sunshine hours, increased the infiltration of saturated air and further increased the cooling effect. The cooling efficiency of the chamber ranged between 83.36±0.97 to 85.93±1.69%. The Rh within the chamber remained between 7585%. The chamber was tested for storage of seed ginger and it was observed that the PLM of ginger could be significantly reduced as compared to rustic sand storage methods.