Modular cooling tunnel is a modern device designed to cool products. The coolant is cold air that circulates in a closed circuit in special channels. The design of the cooling tunnel is characterized by a two-zone design with countercurrent cooling. In the first zone, the warm product moves along with the belt and is placed under the cold air stream. The heated air is transferred to a separate second zone, where it is cooled down again. Tunnel covers, providing product insulation against external conditions, filled with polyurethane foam with a thermal transmittance of 0.036W / mK.
The advanced technology of the cooling tunnel equipment increases the efficiency of each plant.
The cooling tunnel is composed of segments enclosed with hinged doors on both sides along the tunnel. The door structure is made of acid-resistant steel sheets and finished around with PE1000 plastic strips. The inside of the door is filled with PU foam inside. Inside the tunnel, there are slides on which the modular belt with cooling products placed on it is guided. In order to ensure a better tightness of the tunnel, the doors of all sections are equipped with gaskets and pressed against the structure by means of installed gas springs.
The device is used to lower the temperature of products. For this purpose, cool air is supplied to the tunnel (in the middle of its length), to the closed zone of the tunnel segments (to avoid direct impact of the air stream on the products). From the closed zone, cool air passes through the openings with adjustable amount of introducing air located in the PE1000 plates fixed in the upper part of the tunnel base to the zone of the conveyor carrying the products. The amount of air flowing into the products is dosed by the size of the inlets opening. In order to ensure better air migration, a modular belt was selected appropriately (maximum number of clearances) and the base structure of the device was made (large cutouts in PE1000 sheets and more favorable arrangement of belt guides). Insulation in the form of polyurethane foams of tunnel segments and polystyrene on the base of the device provide additional protection for the cooling process to run properly.
In the conveyor, the transporting element is a modular belt guided on slides made of PE1000. The belt is driven by drive wheels mounted on one shaft, which is driven by a gear motor. The shaft journals are mounted in self-aligning rolling bearings. Bearings placed in special housings are attached to the side walls of the conveyor.
