Air infiltration control to reduce hygiene hazard in refrigerated food processing and storage facilities

Infiltration of warm, humid air in refrigerated food processing and preservation facilities (such as industrial
chilling and freezing equipment or storage warehouses) is a common phenomenon with a number of substantial detrimental effects. First of all, infiltrating air is a major source of incoming heat which increases the refrigeration load and the resulting power consumption, thereby worsening the energy efficiency. Secondly, the incoming moisture enhances the frost formation on the cold heat transfer surfaces (in
evaporators, low-temperature heat exchangers, etc.), which also creates heavy operational and efficiency issues. Furthermore, the infiltration is a potential source of contamination of different nature, which subjects the chilled or frozen food to safety hazard. While the energy aspects of the infiltration have been studied and analysed comparatively well, current information about the hygiene-driven engineering and design of air infiltration preventing devices is still extremely scarce. Relevant know-how on hygienic design of food refrigeration equipment has never been summarised in a systematic way. In that context, the purpose of this chapter is to bridge the existing gap by raising the awareness of the professional readership about suitable
engineering solutions, reasonable approaches and hygienic design routines capable of coping successfully with the uncontrolled infiltration of air in refrigerated facilities.

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