FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10, Rule 13]
ENERGY RECUPERATIVE SYSTEM FOR COLD STORAGE FOR FLOWERS/FRUlf S;
BLUE STAR LIMITED, A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER COMPANIES ACT 1956, WHOSE ADDRESS IS KASTURI BUILDINGS, MOHAN T. ADVANI CHOWK, JAMSHETJI TATA ROAD, MUMBAI- 400 020 MAHARASTRA, INDIA;
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION
PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE
INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED

FIELD OF THE PRESENT INVENTION:
The present invention relates to a system for cold storage of flower/fruits.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
To store flowers/fruits, there is a requirement of low temperature and high humidity. Conventionally, separate refrigeration unit, humidifiers etc are connected to a controller to operate components individually to bring down the temperature to the required level and raise the humidity.
US Patent No. 5,042,266 discloses a system for refrigerating and humidity-regulation comprises of a refrigerating unit having a humidity-regulating apparatus assembled therein. The humidity-regulating apparatus includes a solid adsorptive material, an air heater, an air blowing means, and an air circulation route for circulating Inside and outside air through the air heater and the solid adsorptive material. This system is limited to use of containers used in marine or overland transportation.
Another system disclosed in US Patent No. 3696630 is a humidified and refrigerated show-case. A refrigeration system includes a refrigerant conduit which is oriented

within a lower portion of the air flow chamber and above the pan. A fan positioned slightly above the refrigerant coil operates to draw recirculating air across the water contained in the pan so the air will accumulate moisture and become humidified to a predetermined degree. The humidified air is then drawn around the refrigerant conduit in heat exchange relationship and is eventually directed upwardly through the air flow chamber so it may be distributed through perforations of the enclosure and into contact with the flowers. This system provides humidity levels of 85%.
In floriculture applications, a humidity level of 90-95% and a temperature of around 10-12°C is required. So there is a need to continuously increase the humidity inside the storage room by using some external sources such as humidifier or atomizers. These humidifiers/atomizers require a continuous supply of water for their operation. As humidifier comprises electrodes for generation of steam, distilled water is recommended, generally up to 80% pure. If the water quality is poor the electrodes get corroded and the efficiency of the humidifier decreases and the current drawn by the humidifier increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVNETION
Accordingly, the present invention provides a system for cold storage of flowers/fruits comprising a refrigeration system an atomizer or humidifier to increase humidity, a recycle means to guide water from the refrigeration system to the atomizer humidifier, a plurality of sensors adapted to sense temperature and humidity in the cold storage and a control unit to maintain temperature and humidity of the cold storage within predetermined levels.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the recycle means comprises a heat exchanger to raise the temperature of the drained water.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the heat exchanger is adapted in the refrigeration cycle to exchange heat between the hot compressed gas and the drained water for increasing the temperature of the drained water.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Reference will be made to embodiments of the invention, examples of which may be illustrated in the accompanying figures. These figures are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Although the invention is generally described in the context of these

embodiments, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 shows a schematic flow diagram of a preferred embodiment of an system for cold storage according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference now should be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.
The present invention provides a system for cold storage of flowers/fruits. Accordingly, the present invention provides a system as shown in Figure 1 for cold storage of flowers/fruits comprising a refrigeration system including a compressor (1), a condenser coil (2), an expansion valve (3) and an evaporator coil (4) acting on

the principle of reverse Carnot cycle, an atomizer or humidifier (8, 9) to maintain the humidity at predetermined level, a recycle means (10) to guide water from the refrigeration system to the atomizer humidifier and a control unit (not shown) including a microprocessor controller to control the refrigeration system to maintain temperature of cold storage at predetermined level and the humidifier to maintain the humidity at predetermined level, and plurality of sensors (not shown) adapted to sense temperature and humidity in the cold storage and provide signal to the control unit (not shown) wherein said control unit (not shown) maintains the temperature and humidity of the cold storage within the predetermined set points. The recycle means (10) of the present invention is provided to guide the water drained in a drain pan (5) by the refrigeration system to the humidifier (8, 9) via a collection chamber (7). Preferably, the recycle means passes drained water over a heat exchanger (6) of the refrigeration system.
Referring to Figure 1, wherein when there is a cooling demand, the control unit (not shown) starts the compressor (1) and the temperature of the room starts dropping to a set point, and similarly for humidity demand the humidifier energizes and water is fed to the humidifier (8, 9) for steam generation. This operation continues until the

set point is reached. The control logic of the control unit (not shown) maintains these conditions till the unit run time.
As it is well known, the water holding capacity of air decreases with decrease in the temperature and the evaporator coil starts removing large amount of water which gets accumulated in a drip tray (not shown) and this water is drained out from the drain pan (5). The drain pan (5) has an outlet through which, the water, which is at a lower temperature is collected in a collection chamber (7). The water in the collection chamber (7) is at 5-10°C. The present system utilizes this water in the collection chamber (7) for the humidification purpose by guiding it to the humidifier. The humidifier (8, 9) comprises of a cylinder and electrodes which get heated up electrically and help in the boiling of water and the boiled water in the form of steam is guided into the supply air stream from the unit, this helps to increase the humidity of the system.
However, since the water collected in a collection chamber (7) is at 5-10°C, water at this temperature will requires a large amount of heat for humidification purpose. In the present invention, the drain water from the drain pan is allowed to flow over a heat exchanger (6) where one media is cold water from the drain pan and other

medium is discharge gas from the discharge line. In this heat exchange is affected between discharge gas from the compressor (1) to water from a drain pan (5) to increase temperature of water which is guided to the humidifier (8, 9) from 5-10°C to 25-30°C and reduce temperature of compressed gas. Advantageously, the power consumption gets reduced as less power is required to humidify water by boiling it from 30 °C to 100 °C compared to boiling water from 5 °C to 100 °C.
According toe the preset invention, the control unit of the system maintains the temperature conditions within ±1°C and humidity conditions within ±5% from the set points in order to maintain cold storage temperature and humidity at predetermined levels at 10-12 °C and 90-95% RH respectively.
As the system of the present invention recycles the water, low external water source for humidifier needed. Further, the humidifier electrodes require less electrical energy for heating of water to generate steam, thereby reducing the power consumption. AJso, on the refrigeration side the pre-cooled discharge gas passes to the condenser thereby increasing the system capacity and also reducing the compressor power and thereby increases the life of the system. Furthermore, the condenser operates at lower inlet discharge pressure thereby the auto pressure

detection system in the condenser reduces the fan speed resulting in less electric power. Moreover, recycling of room humidity reduces the extra water arrangement requirement and also provides contamination free water to the humidifier thereby increasing the humidifier life.
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes can be made in respect of dehumidification, without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications can be made to adapt a particular geometry or dimension to the teachings of the description without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiment(s) disclosed as the best mode contemplated, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

WE CLAIM
1. A system for cold storage of flowers/fruits, comprising:
a refrigeration system including a compressor, a condenser coil, an expansion valve and an evaporator coil acting on the principle of reverse Carnot cycle;
an atomizer or humidifier to increase humidity of the cold storage;
a recycle means to guide water drained from the refrigeration system to the atomizer or humidifier;
a plurality of sensors adapted to sense temperature and humidity in the cold storage; and
a control unit configured with, the refrigeration system, atomizer/humidifier and the sensors for maintaining the temperature and humidity of the cold storage within predetermined set points.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the humidifier comprises of a cylinder and electrodes which get heated up electrically to increase the humidity of the system.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a heat exchanger is adapted in the recycle means for increasing temperature of the drained water.
4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said heat exchanger is preferably adapted in the refrigeration system to exchange heat between hot compressed gas of the refrigeration system and the drained water to increase temperature of the drained water and reduce the temperature of the compressed gas.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit preferably maintains the temperature conditions within ±1°C and humidity conditions within ±5% from the predetermined level.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 5, wherein the predetermined temperature level is at 10-12 °C.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 5, wherein the predetermined humidity