The beginning of the endoCube

Onergy has released the endoCube.

According to the company, the endoCube, “represents the latest in temperature-mimicking sensors providing a proven risk free method for improving refrigeration efficiency while simultaneously reducing energy consumption.”

“Endorsed by HACCP Australia and certified by NSF as a food temperature simulant, refrigeration systems now have the opportunity to operate based on the stable endoCube temperature rather than the unstable continually fluctuating air temperature,” says the company.

The endoCube features a “formulated wax compound that simulates the thermal properties of food; and when retro-fit over the refrigeration controlling air temperature probes in the environment, enables the control system to operate compressor cycles in a more efficient manner, running fewer cycles and with longer runtimes,” Onergy says.

The endoCube is suited to commercial refrigeration applications, from stand-alone condenser systems to complex rack solutions in cold store warehouses, front and back of house refrigeration facilities in supermarkets, restaurants, liquor stores, convenience stores and distribution trucks.

Accurate food temperature measurement in refrigerated environments

Onergy endoCube provides a way to overcome a common difficulty in recording ’actual’ product temperature in refrigerated environment displays.

The endoCube is simple to install and requires no long-term management; it provides commercial refrigerators with an opportunity to switch from operating based on fluctuating air temperatures to operating based on food temperature, enhancing HACCP food safety programs.

This clever refrigeration device is packaged in a cleanable casing and has no electrical or mechanical components. The endoCube is installed by simply being wrapped around existing air-temperature thermostatic probes and by mimicking food. The probes report to the control systems a ‘truer’ product temperature rather than the air temperature.

Through independent testing it has been determined that with the ability to display and operate based on a more accurate temperature reading, the endoCube pays for itself through significant reduction in refrigeration running costs. Simply put, with the endoCube attached the refrigeration units are no longer susceptible to fluctuations in air temperature. This reduces the number of times the refrigeration unit needs to start and stop providing a more efficient operation.

The Onergy endoCube provides a simple way to: contribute positively HACCP food safety programs; reduce the refrigeration running costs offering energy savings; and to ensure the refrigeration runs more efficiently offering less equipment wear and tear.

The endoCube is designed specifically for commercial and industrial applications including cold rooms, freezers and supermarkets with open air refrigeration cases. They provide benefits in warehouse storage environments as well as distributor trucks and vans.

endoCube | Enhancing energy efficiency in refrigeration

endoCube is a temperature mimicking sensor that controls cold storage refrigeration according to product temperature as opposed to continually fluctuating air temperature.

The sensor provides a proven method for improving refrigeration efficiency while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. endoCube is endorsed by HACCP Australia and certified as a food temperature simulant.

A key issue with cold chain refrigeration is its operation based on the environment’s fluctuating air temperature, which reduces operating efficiency. Cold room doors are constantly opened and closed creating warm air currents entering the cold room, which then float directly to the ceiling where the controlling probe then triggers the system to provide additional cooling. The food is barely affected yet the refrigeration system is constantly cycling on and off; costing money without providing any practical benefit.

The endoCube rectifies this issue by ensuring the system only operates when the amount of warm air that enters the environment is enough to warrant additional cooling to maintain correct product temperature.

The endoCube’s formulated wax compound simulates the thermal properties of food and enables the control system to operate compressor cycles in a more efficient manner, running fewer cycles and with longer run times.

Longer cycles enhance the system efficiency, leading to less wear and tear on the mechanical components and the reduction in the number of compressor starts provide savings in power consumption.

The endoCube from Onergy is suited to commercial refrigeration applications from stand-alone condenser systems to complex rack solutions.

Benefits have been recorded for cold store warehousing solutions, supermarket front- and back-of-house refrigeration facilities, restaurants, liquor stores, convenience stores and distribution trucks.

As the price of electricity increases across Australia, the endoCube provides a risk-free method of improving the efficiency of the refrigeration while reducing running costs.

With a simple installation process and no maintenance required, the endoCube is a simple product overcoming the existing problem of refrigeration control systems making decisions based on fluctuating air temperatures in the refrigerated environment.

The endoCube provides a simple way to contribute positively to HACCP food safety programs, reduce refrigeration running costs while offering energy savings, and to ensure the refrigeration runs more efficiently, meaning less equipment wear and tear.

HACCP AUSTRALIA NEWS

HACCP Australia Conference 2011
Each year, the HACCP Australia team congregates at a function centre for 3 days of information sharing and work shopping ideas for continual improvement of our business and services. One feature of the conference (or what is now known as the HACCP Jamboree!) is our on going system of continuous learning. Individuals in our team have significant expertise in specialist fields and participate in a system we call our “Internal Experts”. That ‘expert’ is charged with the task of staying at the cutting edge of a particular and relevant field and then disseminating that information to the team. This system has the benefit of always broadening our team’s knowledge and deepening that of the internal expert, making sure we maintain our position as the leading food safety organisation in Australia. The ‘expert’ subjects are now quite extensive as each project technologist has at least one each and include such diverse matters as State and Local Government Requirements, Labelling, Recall Management and Systems, Design, Cook-chill and Shelf-life extension systems. If any readers are looking for assistance in a specialist field of food technology, we might well have an expert on hand to help.

HACCP International
Having established offices in Hong Kong and London over the last two years, we are now seeing significant growth of our business in Asia and Europe. While the offices are fully staffed with food technologists and support staff, we do enjoy the benefits of cross fertilisation of information and ideas and the ability to offer a global service. We are well placed to assist Australian companies with centrally co-ordinated support from Sydney in important export markets.

Auditing – The boot is on the other foot for a change!
It might be of some comfort to our readers to know that it is not only your business that goes through an audit process. HACCP Australia’s sister organisation has recently had to undergo a JAS-ANZ audit as part of its product certification accreditation process. Three auditors on site for two full days, it is as an extensive process as any BRC audit! Those in the office were able to witness the process first hand and sweat on the outcome and non conformance requirements. As it happens we did well even though we have a number of non conformances – which we will close out on time! We just thought some of you might feel good about the fact that we ‘go through it’ too!

The Finalists are:
The finalists in the Food Safety & Innovation in Non-Food award have been announced for the 7th Annual Food Challenge Awards. HACCP Australia proudly sponsors this award, hosted by Food Magazine, and are pleased to see a number of truly excellent products have been selected as finalists, addressing food safety and design initiative in non food products. The HACCP Australia team wishes to thank all those who entered and congratulates the following finalists:

• Activeion International
• Aeris Environmental
• Altro APAC
• BASF
• BAXX-Symetec
• Diginol
• Dyson
• Flexsil-Lid
• Onergy
• SCHÜTZ
• Testo

The winner of the FOOD SAFETY and INNOVATION IN NON-FOOD award will be announced at the 2011 FOOD CHALLENGE AWARDS gala dinner at Doltone House, Pyrmont, Sydney.

Onergy endoCube

The endoCube is a NON-Electrical / NON-Mechanical Food simulant contained in an enclosure. When retrofitted onto existing Air Temperature sensors in refrigerators & freezers, they ensure the sensors monitor ‘Food’ temperature rather than ‘Air’ temperature.

A closer look at a couple of products that HACCP Australia has reviewed

Managing Temperature – a critical subject for many food business operators. An introduction to a couple of products from ‘Diginol’ and ‘Onergy’ that have impressed our team.

In the last edition, we touched on conformance requirements for dishwashers and the all important sanitation and final rinse temperatures which several of Eswood’s dishwashers meet. This time we thought we should mention products assisting with temperatures at the other end of the thermometer scale – and concerning what are always important CCPs in many food safety programmes – namely cold storage temperature management and recording.

Excellent temperature management products are available from Carel, (www.carel.com), Danfoss (www.danfoss.com) and Phasefale (www.phasefale.com.au) and these are often incorporated in the very best of cool rooms. They offer efficient governors and controllers and accurate data.

In addition to these products, Diginol (www.diginol.com.au), a Queensland based company, supply a product called ‘Netlogger’. The ‘Netlogger’ monitors cool rooms and freezer temperatures on its own independent service platform and covers the reporting side of this issue with a very useful and well presented system . Each Netlogger device can monitor temperatures at up to 4 different points within a cool room and all the information is presented on a HACCP compliant report of time, temperature and location. The system incorporates alarms that can be sent to office phones and mobile phones via SMS in the case of breeches of temperature parameters and also log close outs. One particularly attractive feature is the system does not require any software to be installed on the operator’s computer. All the information is web-based, hosted on Diginol’s web servers and accessed by the operator through a standard web browser or received in standardised report format as required by the operator’s food safety programme. Diginol’s monitors have battery backup option in case of power failure so that such incidents can be monitored at the time.

Another very impressive product that serves the industry in this regard is the ‘EndoCube’ from Onergy. As many readers will know, one of the most common difficulties is recording actual product temperature – not air temperature. All sorts of methodologies have been used in trying to simulate product with probes placed in vials or within the product itself. In practice, these home-grown systems can be inefficient and inaccurate and sometimes actually introduce risk to the task! EndoCube is a clever food product simulator which is designed to house a thermostatic probe giving a much more accurate temperature status device.

Invented by British engineers and patented globally, the EndoCube has been widely tested in-house and by independent organisations, and has demonstrated energy savings of up to 33%.

This neat wax cube contained in a cleanable casing is a clever refrigeration device with no electrical or mechanical components. It not only gives a ‘truer’ product temperature reading but, by mimicking food, also changes how fridges and freezers work and utilise energy. Rather than respond to fluctuating air temperature with corresponding refrigeration workload, the EndoCube makes refrigeration units read food temperature only. Refrigeration units work in a series of cycles, most commonly monitoring air temperature in order to decide when to switch on and off. But air temperature rises faster than the temperature of food, so refrigeration units work harder than necessary. Coupling energy saving and food safety, these are certainly are worth a look.

These products have been certified by HACCP Australia as food safe in terms of their design, materials and non power related performance and both are food safe in themselves and can make a contribution to food safety in their application.

As matter of interest, these products, although unrelated would work well together in harmony.