There are a lot of cold accumulators on the market, making et difficult for a professional to evaluate the offer and choose an efficient ice pack.
Pack, block, gel, etc…
There are lots of different names for cold accumulators: cartridge, pack, plate, block, gel, and so on… generally associated with the terms ‘cold’, ‘eutectic’ or ‘refrigerating’.
Professional cold accumulators
For your private use, it is quite simple : you pop an ice pack in your cool box or bag and it keeps your food chilled for a few hours, the time for a picnic. This type of ice pack is usually filled with water.
A professional cold accumulator contains eutectic fluid and it is much more powerful in terms of duration, quality and temperature performance. The ice pack used by professionals is a more complex device with specific characteristics.
Temperature
Temperature-sensitive health products and chilled or frozen foodstuff need to be maintained at different temperatures. The temperature of the accumulator will be chosen according to the temperature needed.
The temperature giving for a cold accumulator refers to the ‘melting point’ (phase change temperature) of the eutectic fluid. OLIVO’s eutectic plates can be used for 7 different temperatures, negative or positive. The choice of the right temperature also depends on the ambient conditions of use (specific climatice conditions).
If you need the eutectic plate to release +2°C, the climate factor (temperate, cold, warm) will need to be taken into account when choosing the temperature of your cold accumulator.
The melting point is thus an important characteristic of cold accumulators for professionals who want to meet their cold chain obligations.
Latent heat
Once the temperature has been defined, you will need to know how much cold (i.e.how many frigories) you will get from the accumulator. This depends on the size of the accumulator, i.e. the quantity of eutectic liquid contained in the envelope.
The latent heat of a cold accumulator is expressed in joules.
Depending on the duration needed, one or more cold accumulators may be necessary.
The latent heat released directly influences the lenght of time the temperature will be maintained. This is an essential technical datum for the qualification of a professional cold accumulator.
The colder it is, the better it works
You might be tempted to choose a -21°C eutectic plate to transport chilled foodstuffs, in order to « boost the system » and increase the preservation duration…
time This is not a good idea : you might spoil the foodstuffs by freezing them, and the cooling duration would not necessarily be longer.
Contact us ! the OLIVO teams will advise and guide you to analyse your cooling requirements and to chose the right product to buy.
The melting plateau
Not all cold accumulators are equal even if they have similar melting point and latent heat. The quality of the meeting plateau is often what makes the professional cold accumulator better.
When it thaws, the cold accumulator slowly releases its frigories at a stable temperature, which is the eutectic liquid phase change (or melting) temperature. This is known as the melting plateau.
If the core temperature of a thawing -12°C cold accumulator is measured, the temperature curve is flat and stable with a regular -12°C temperature.
A flat, regular plateau is a sign of quality and the stability of the temperature.
This characteristic is not easy to measure but a good professional will be able to help and inform you.
