JBT has launched a revolutionary new system for fast-drying of industrial spiral freezers after cleaning, helping save hours of non-productive time typically lost attempting – not always successfully – to take moisture out of freezers after defrosting.
The LVS QuickDry is an innovative solution to drying difficulties which makes use of a patented system of condensation cycles to quickly and efficiently remove all droplets of water from spiral freezers. Unlike most traditional drying systems, which rely on fans and can take an average of two-and-a-half hours to achieve results – leading to substantial downtime – the LVS QuickDry shortens effective drying time by up to an hour.
JBT’s LVS Refrigeration System is a patented invention that optimizes the refrigeration system by reducing energy consumption, improving freezer performance in the process.
“When customers have freezers, the biggest problem – as with freezers at home – is defrosting and cleaning,” explains Torbjörn Persson, JBT’s Director of Value Stream & Global Product Line, Spiral Freezers. “You can’t have a wet freezer after cleaning, so you have to dry them out and this can typically take several hours, especially with mid-sized and large spiral freezers where there’s a lot of steel. What this system does it that it shortens the drying sequence by up to one hour.”
Drying solutions
In a typical factory environment where conditions are often humid, damp and cold, drying using fans is a slow process that can leave moisture in the freezer if any attempt is made to speed it up.
“Drying has typically been done by running fans at high speed, much like a dishwasher,” says Persson. But then, the problem is – much like a dishwasher – if you don’t open the door, it never really gets dry because it’s hard to get rid of all the moisture. And what happens is you end up with a very warm freezer that takes a long time to chill down and you still have a lot of moisture in there.”
With drying often taking up a third for total cleaning time when it comes to spiral freezers, having a dry freezer back in operation as quickly as possible is key to avoiding downtime. However, using conventional drying methods, this is not always the case.
“We know from our operational experience that a lot of customers dry and they are still not happy, so they have to dry for another half an hour before they can start running because if you have a wet freezer, water can start to freeze on moving parts causing problems with the mechanics,” says Persson. “The LVS QuickDry condensates the moisture to the evaporator before heating it again quickly using hot gas, so the moisture that has frozen to the evaporator drips down to the floor. This gets most of the moisture out of the freezer as quickly as possible.”