Inside air control apparatus and container refrigeration apparatus including the same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air control systems for storage containers, such as those used in marine transportation, face challenges in maintaining optimal oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations for perishable goods like fruits and vegetables, as they often rely on insufficient or inefficient methods to adjust gas compositions in response to varying concentrations and plant respiration.
Innovation Solution
An inside air control apparatus featuring a gas supply device that produces low oxygen concentration air through nitrogen adsorption and a controller that dynamically adjusts gas supply to maintain desired oxygen and carbon dioxide levels within the container, using a vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) system and a sophisticated control mechanism to manage gas supply and exhaust operations based on real-time sensor data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the gas supply amount is increased to quickly lower oxygen concentration, then the oxygen control efficiency is improved, but the carbon dioxide concentration control becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The gas supply device dynamically adjusts the supply amount in multiple stages based on real-time feedback from concentration sensors. When carbon dioxide concentration is low, the system reduces gas supply intensity; when oxygen concentration needs rapid reduction, higher supply stages are activated, optimizing both control speed and composition accuracy
2Stability of the object's composition
If carbon dioxide priority control is used to maintain carbon dioxide concentration, then the carbon dioxide level is stabilized, but the oxygen concentration lowering may be interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The controller continuously monitors both oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations and dynamically adjusts gas supply operations. Unlike fixed priority control, this system can switch between maintaining carbon dioxide levels and lowering oxygen levels based on current conditions, ensuring both parameters reach and maintain their target values without unnecessary interruptions
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively maintains optimal gas compositions within the container, ensuring the freshness of stored plants by dynamically adjusting oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, preventing over-concentration and ensuring the gas supply operation does not fail even when initial carbon dioxide levels are insufficient, thereby extending the shelf life of perishable goods.
Implementation Method 1
a gas supply device (30) that performs a gas supply operation for supplying low oxygen concentration air that is produced through reduction of oxygen from outside air
Implementation Method 2
produces low oxygen concentration air through nitrogen adsorption and a controller that dynamically adjusts gas supply
Data Source
AI summary
An inside air control apparatus includes: a gas supply device that performs a gas supply operation for supplying low oxygen concentration air into a container; and a controller that controls an operation of the gas supply device so that the inside air has desired composition. The controller is configured to be able to execute, if an oxygen concentration of the inside air is higher than a target oxygen concentration, a carbon dioxide concentration controlling operation for controlling composition of the inside air to be desired composition by causing the gas supply device to perform the gas supply operation, while allowing the gas supply device to change the amount of gas supply such that the carbon dioxide concentration of the inside air falls within a predetermined reference concentration range.