Julie Rose III Refrigeration unit

Metal Manipulator · 02-16-2004, 07:47 PM

Popeye I've done some preliminary checking on the chiller for the fish box. At six twenty # tuna an hour and sixteen gallons of seawater the amount of BTU's can be obtained using a half horse compressor. 144 Lbs. sea water is approximately 4,032 btu's. Six twenty pound tuna is approximately 5,760 Btu's. A 1/2 horse compressor will remove about 6,000 btu's in an hour. So if you need more capacity for more fish we will size accordingly. And as you can see the sea water will take almost as long to cool to 32 deg. I have found the heat exchangers, but have not found the pumps. If you have a desire for a larger capacity or a change in the final product temperature let me Know. This is in the preliminary stage so for just toying with the numbers and equipment. Maybe something to think about as you know your fishing conditions and capacity.

Mark Mc · 02-16-2004, 09:53 PM

Just out of curiosity, what assumptions did you use to come up with the BTU figure for each tuna? Since there are several variables, like how well it was bled, and how long it fought, and whether or not it was brain spiked, etc.

Or is it a good guess-timate of the fish being at say 25 deg C?

Thanks........ Mark

Metal Manipulator · 02-17-2004, 06:17 AM

Just Rounded out the figures since they don't weigh the same and are not in the same condition when boated. I could go to the ASHRE figures or the food industries estamates. Most Meat products are close to one BTU per pound per degree Fareneight.

Albacore Tuna Captain · 02-17-2004, 07:13 AM

Wetfly,

I'm interested in this topic. I've been trying to get some info on chilling the water in my fish totes to avoid having to try for ice all the time. The fish plants in Newport are becoming very unreliable for ice and I would like to have a compressor and chill plate do the work. Can you help me out here?

I have a 4'x4'x4 commercial tote on my back deck. I am installing a 5kw generator aboard so should have enough power to run a compressor.

I usually fill the tote with tuna (holds 35-50 20 to 25 lb. fish). I'm also going to carry another tote for when we fill the first. :grin: I would like to be able to move the plate from one to the other.

So what say ye???? :smile:

Captain Mike

Popeye · 02-17-2004, 07:20 AM

Mikey....What Robin and I are working on is a circulating chiller setup that would eliminate contact with cold plates. The water would be re-circulated thru the box. It's an idea stemming from how we setup some of the wafer processing equipment that we build.
BTW.....Leave Robin alone until he's done with mine :grin:

Mark Mc · 02-17-2004, 08:28 AM

Here are some links I had bookmarked on chilling fish:

making salt brines: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpu...ubs/h99002.pdf

Amount of ice to chill fish: http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives...0007/0061.html

Mike, have you thought about a commercially available RSW system? Something like:

http://www.olympus.net/personal/chiller/pics/itpays.pdf

http://www.richbeersmarine.com/comlrsw.htm

Here's another list of possible vendors, from the fish expo website:

web page

[ 02-17-2004, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Mark Mc ]

Popeye · 02-17-2004, 08:34 AM

Mark...The RSW type of unit is exactly what Robin and I are working on....C'mon, it's always funner to build it yourself!!!! :grin:

Mark Mc · 02-17-2004, 09:30 AM

Popeye, you might actually be onto something. I assume that most of the commercially available models are for larger (commercial boat) capacities. If you could make a mini-unit more appropriate for sport / charter use, that could be a niche market.

"The Popeye RSW chiller. Popeye sez, ' don't you vishkus you had chilled fishkus?' "

Popeye · 02-17-2004, 09:36 AM

Metal Manipulator · 02-17-2004, 01:57 PM

Thanks Mark the information it will be helpful in obtaining final results. Small sport boats don't have the room to facilitate the equipment, even though they would gain capacity because they would not have to carry so much ice.
Mike I asked Bruce about plate chillers and his idea was that he didn't want to clean them and they would take up space in the box. I agree with him on both points.
Btu's per pound per degree to chill fish is .7-.86, with a freezing point at 28 Deg. F. So lets say that we want to chill our fish to 40 Deg. and the fish temp is 80 Deg. then we would need 34.4 BTU's per pound of fish. So a twenty pound fish would have to give off 688 BTU's. With the Box load and the fish load added together we are still at six fish per hour with a 1/2 horse compressor.
Using raw sea water for the condenser and the evaporator allows for a compact unit. Coupled with quick disconnects will allow for multiple hookups to different brine tanks. The heat exchangers are marine grade and should have flow switches to protect against freezing and plugged intakes. Freezing point for sea water is 28.2 Deg. F. if you add 2 lbs more of salt you can droop the freezing point to -6 Deg. F. (Just a side note and will not be necessary on the chiller). More discussion and input is welcome

Booja 1 · 02-17-2004, 06:43 PM

Hey Mark

Last year a couple of long range boats outta San Diego tried going to the RSW system and the skippers were so impressed that most of the other boats are installing em too..I think they were using this on 5 day and shorter trips..They said the fish came out at incredible quality,,like catching em the same day..They recirculate sea water and keep the water temp around 33 degrees or so.. One thing they do is gut each fish prior to putting em in the RSW tanks which caused a problem with the jackpot at the end of each trip so some boats rigged up scales to see how much the bigger fish weighed before gutting..Can't wait to see how this system works in person......