Investigation of spatial variability of air temperature, humidity and velocity in cold stores by using management zone analysis

The main objective of this research was to determine spatial variability of ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity in a cold storage using management zone analysis methods. Ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity of an experimental cold store were measured using 36 temperature-relative humidity sensors and air velocity measurement probe. Sensor installation was performed on grid scale at three levels (base, middle and top) such as to monitor the storage conditions in the cold store. The measured data were analysed by MZA software which performed fuzzy clustering to delineate the full cold storage, half full cold storage and empty cold storage. In addition, Surfer mapping software was utilized to create the maps of the measured parameters. The results indicated that there is significant spatial variation of the basic storage parameters such as ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity in the cold storage, which denotes the significance of management zones delineation in these facilities so as to maximize the storage.