BN-7916 



Figure 10. --Side view of a load of apples in fiber- 

 board boxes in a motortruck semi- trailer showing 

 arrangement of containers in stacks and layers to 

 provide air channels (shaded spaces) from front 

 to rear of load for circulation of air, thus allow- 

 ing more adequate refrigeration. 



To measure the efficiency of the revised crosswise offset loading as re- 

 lated to air circulation more accurately, fruit temperatures were checked in 

 specific locations of the air -channel loads in 36 sample boxes per load in 

 Test 36 and in 42 boxes in Test 37 at both origin and destination. The results 

 are given in table 3. It appears that the provision of proper air channels 

 along the sides of the loads enables the maintenance of air circulation in 

 transit to reduce appreciably the variation in the fruit temperatures between 

 origin and destination. For example, based on all the locations at which 

 temperatures were taken in Test 37, a mechanically refrigerated load with the 

 thermostat set at 36° F., the lowest and highest readings at origin were 32° 

 and 39°. The corresponding readings at destination were 37° and 42°. Thus 

 the lowest temperature at destination was 5 degrees above the lowest tempera- 

 ture at origin and the highest temperature at destination was 3 degrees above 

 the similar temperature at origin. The total range between the minimum tempera- 

 ture at origin and the maximum temperature at destination was 10 degrees. The 

 lower temperatures in Test 37, with only small variations between origin and 

 destination, resulted from proper circulation of the air in the trailer and, 

 thus, the more effective removal of the heat coming through the trailer side- 

 walls before it could be absorbed by the apples. 



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