Introduction To Food Refrigeration And Thermal Transfer Fluid Concerns

What is refrigeration? It is the lowering of temperatures of substances or enclosed spaces. Refrigeration is most commonly used to prevent the spoiling of food, medicine, and other biological products. This is possible due to the slowdown of bacterial growth when exposed to cold temperatures. Foods can be kept for many days without spoiling by storing it at temperatures around 4°C. Freezing foods near -18°C allows it to be stored for months without affecting its quality or safety.

The modern world is deeply reliant upon food refrigeration to provide people with sufficient supply of food. It is thanks to refrigeration technology that food can travel for thousand of kilometers and for days or weeks and still reach the consumers in excellent condition. Trucks and shipping containers are refrigerated to make this possible.

Refrigeration technology vary depending on purpose. With food refrigeration, an important concern that must be properly addressed is the thermal transfer fluid. In the case of trucks, the refrigeration unit onboard is exposed to continuous shocks and vibrations. Damage to the refrigeration unit is not something unexpected. Damage to the refrigeration unit can sometimes lead to leaking of the transfer fluid, which can then make contact with the food.

It is for this reason that food refrigeration transfer fluid must be free from substances that can make food unsafe for consumption.

Fluid Mechanics

Fluid mechanics is a field physics. It focuses on the physical behavior of fluids and forces related to them. It has a wide range of applications that are essential to the modern world. As an example, how food refrigeration transfer fluid behaves is very important in ensuring that the populace have sufficient supply of food.  Air conditioning which provides comfort to living and working spaces rely on the behavior of the coolant liquid. The same applies to fire suppression in buildings and large vehicles.

Fluid mechanics is a diverse flied. It is divided primarily into fluid statics and fluid dynamics. Statics focuses on fluids at rest whereas dynamics focuses on forces as related to fluid motion. Fluid mechanics seeks to understand fluid matter without dealing with atomic structure.

Fluid mechanics is a very active scientific field. There are many problems that are still unsolved. Answers to these problems can have many practical benefits and lead to advances in various technological fields.

It is complex field that relies on mathematics. Mathematics is used to understand and solve problems pertaining to fluid mechanics. Computer programs are often used to aid in mathematical computations.

There are many offshoot disciplines from fluid mechanics. Computational fluid dynamics is dedicated primarily to using computer to do numerical analysis and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. This discipline focuses on developing and refining computer programs. It also relies on tremendous computing power.