Potatoes in Canada

News
Sponsored: MicroVent Vision Offers Flexibility in Potato Storage

When it comes to controlling your potato storage ventilation system, flexibility is crucial. The end use of the crop as well as harvest conditions place varying requirements on the storage protocol. The MicroVent Vision system allows storage managers to tailor their protocol to match the requirements of the crop in various conditions. The system can also function successfully regardless of the storage design, including both box and bulk storage.

January 10, 2019  By Gorman Controls Ltd.


“It’s flexible enough that no matter what climate you are in or what your ventilation objectives and requirements are — you can do it with this system,” says Gorman Controls vice-president Duane Gorman.

The system has several features that provide a fully customized operation:

  • Demand ventilation, based on temperature and/or carbon dioxide, allows a storage manager to optimize ventilation time. The feature matches ventilation time with the crop requirements while minimizing shrink, pressure bruise, and energy consumption.
  • Pile sensor averaging allows users to monitor temperature throughout the system. Storage managers can use this tool to control ventilation time based on any combination of these sensors using the maximum, minimum, or average value of these temperatures. The manager can also use these sensors to maintain uniform temperatures throughout the crop.
  • Fan speed control provides even more flexibility. The fan speed can be automatically controlled depending on the objective of a given ventilation time. If a user is cooling a crop they can operate the fans at full speed, however, if the objective is circulating air to provide a uniform temperature, the full capacity of the fans may not be required. During these periods, the fans can be automatically operated at a lower speed, thereby minimizing energy consumption.

Ventilation requirements are exceptionally fluid and depend on such factors as harvest conditions and the end use of the crop. “The MicroVent Vision system provides the adaptability to match these highly varying requirements,” adds Gorman.

Advertisement

Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below