| 摘要 |
An apparatus is pro- vided for controlling the ripen- ing of produce. The apparatus includes a chamber (10) having a ceiling (16) a floor (12) and a plurality of walls (18, 20). Posi- tioned in the chamber (10) is a support and position structure (32) to support two rows (34, 36) of palletized produce (24) and to space the palletized pro- duce (24) away from the walls (18, 20) to define a fluid circu- lation space around the palle- tized produce (24). The rows (34, 36) of palletized produce (24) are spaced apart to define an interstitial volume therebe- tween. Each row (34, 36) of palletized produce (26) includes at least an upper (42) and a lower (38) tier with a vertical spacing therebetween. A flexi- ble sealing strip (64) is affixed to the support and position structure (32) to generally seal the vertical spacing between the tiers from the fluid circulation space. A fluid control mechanism (68, 70) is provided to exhaust fluid from the interstitial volume and to introduce a controlled fluid into the fluid circulation space to create a pressure differential between the interstitial volume and the circulation space to thereby force the controlled fluid to flow generall y uniformly through the palletized produce (24).
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