The SafePod fruit storage system is patented technology – U.S. Patent No. 8739694, Canadian Patent No. CA2746152
1: With the versatility of SafePod, you can:
2: The integrated analyzers & remote SCS6000 controller are easy to use and provide you with extensive, valuable information.
3: Our customized website interface lets you view and interpret your data quickly and easily.
Warehouse operators, university researchers, and competitors are looking for their Low Oxygen Limit (LOL) in apple storage rooms. After years of testing, it has become evident that Respiration Quotient (RQ) is the leader in this arena.
The SafePod adds another level of security by only letting the fruit in the SafePod be at risk during these critical intervals. During these intervals, the SafePod offers a respiration indicator in mL/kg/hr of CO2 produced. The SafePod has allowed researchers to key in on these respiration values, leading SCS to compare these results as the Respiration Index. Respiration is a means of knowing whether achieving levels in the room at the LOL are helpful to fruit quality or not.
LOL is often the target for optimal CA conditions; however, lower isn’t always better. The difference in respiration between several tenths of a percentage may be negligible. With SafePod monitoring the fruit’s respiration, the operator is able to graphically see this difference, or lack thereof, and appropriately adjust the regime up to perhaps reduce atmospheric generator energy, machine runtime, and ultimately fruit stress, all of which heavily influence final fruit quality, weight, and especially flavor.
Having a respiration index assigned to samples, and thus rooms, offers operators a quantifiable ranking of similar varieties to dictate room opening intervals. Rooms with higher respiration are more active for a variety of reasons, but ultimately need to be marketed before similar, but lower ranking rooms.
Respiration becomes apparent and addictive for all types and numbers of CA stores. In both conventional and organic stores, the warehouse operator can determine if, for example, the respiration after achieving 1.25% O2 for a period of time is any different than the respiration of the same fruit at 1.85%. If the respiration is similar at either O2 level, that fruit, from this year, at this temperature is respiring at a rate unchanged by the lower O2. As a result, energy savings can be achieved by running less N2 into the room than would be required to maintain that lower setpoint, but relax knowing 1.85% is offering equal benefit.
Coupled with its automated software, the patented design of the SafePod allows for periodic determinations of the LOL and respiration without the affect of extraneous contaminates to the results. Alternative methods that sample entire rooms have “noise” of refrigeration causing pressures on the room, Scrubbing, N2 flushing, and venting, all of which are contaminates. The isolation offered only by the SafePod results in true and consistent readings, calculated by known kgs of fruit in the SafePod and O2 consumption. This data is uploaded continually to a virtual web server and available via app.SafePodCA.com.
An added function built into the SafePod software is a SafePod Control Setpoint. If research and experimentation is the primary focus, then a lower oxygen setpoint can be set and kept inside the SafePod. Low oxygen stress levels can be tested and controlled for a period of time. Normal observation and evaluation of the fruit can be performed after the storage period, and an optional Senzytec2 kit, now available in North America through SCS, can be used to verify fruit quality. This kit tests for low oxygen damage in the fruit itself.
For even greater versatility, SCS offers a special LabLease program designed for researchers. The SafePod’s ability to maintain its bubbletight seal while sharing temperature with the encompassing room allows it to become a laboratory chamber with incredible ease. Built-in ports allow the operator to attach a nitrogen source, pull down the pod within minutes, and then monitor levels just like a traditional chamber, all without any additional pumps or unnecessary equipment.
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