Commercial / Industrial Refrigeration Articles

Going natural with refrigeration energy.(The Open Door)
Appliance; 8/1/2004; Vallort, Ron

China refrigeration 2004.(Special Report)
Appliance; 7/1/2004; Zhang, Sean

Stay cool: walk-in coolers are not refrigerators--but they are equipped with refrigeration systems.
Do you know what size you need?(Equipment Clinic)
Food Service Director; 6/15/2004; Domek, Tad

Strategies for successful refrigeration energy audits. (Commercial Refrigeration & Energy,
Statistical Data Included)
Contracting Business; 8/1/2002; Ward, David

Commercial Refrigeration: A Working Example.(commercial refrigeration systems)
Contracting Business; 8/1/2001

Keeping It Cold With Style
Contracting Business; 8/1/2001; Hall, Gary

Maintenance prevents refrigeration failure, product loss. (Hotel operations: mold remediation)

Hotel & Motel Management; 11/1/2004; Higgins, Stacey Mieyal

... Becoming familiar with the equipment and commonly occurring problems are paramount to avoiding a complete breakdown, according to Tom Sheridan, owner of the 22-room Taughannock Farms Inn in Trumansburg, N.Y.

"Have a relationship with the contractor, be around as much as possible, get involved and discuss a problem and why it happened, so when symptoms occur--before a shutdown--you can say, 'Here's what's going on.'" Sheridan said. "You can speak to them intelligently."

There is one walk-in, outdoor cooler at the property, which needs to be at peak performance.

"You don't have to be an expert," Sheridan said. "It's about being generally aware of the components ... knowing that in some cases if you clean off the condenser or evaporator your problem is solved."

In most cases, refrigeration units are online with a backup generator if a power outage occurs.

The 402-room Radisson Plaza Hotel Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Convention Center has a 500-gallon diesel fuel unit that can supply power to essential systems for two working days, said David Nobers, director of operations.

The hotel has one icemaker on each of 10 guest floors, two additional icemakers in the kitchen and bar areas and three walk-in units.

Two of the walk-in units are located in ... Complete Article • Top

Going natural with refrigeration energy. (The Open Door)

Appliance; 8/1/2004; Vallort, Ron

The title of a song--"Everything Old is New Again"--seems to fit the current state of the refrigeration and refrigeration research segment of the appliance industry.

To protect the ozone layer and minimize global warming, engineers and designers are again touting the praises of natural refrigerants--carbon dioxide, ammonia, and even air and water. The return to these natural refrigerants protects the ozone layer, and because they have a higher efficiency, it helps to decrease the greenhouse effect of fossil fuels used in energy production. This also helps to preserve the energy reserves of planet Earth for future generations.

This is making refrigeration equipment that is earth-friendly in emissions and energy consumption, as well as co-generation applications to provide additional energy and refrigerated storage facilities with a low initial cost and technological match with the location's infrastructure--a priority among the HVAC/R technical community.

However, alternate refrigerants for small facilities that approach the effectiveness of ammonia need to be utilized and/or developed. The efficiency and reliability of refrigeration systems and equipment must continue to be a priority.

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China refrigeration 2004.(Special Report)

In addition to the buzz surrounding China's booming market, products with energy-saving, environmentally sound, and health-related features were the focus of China Refrigeration 2004, held April 8-10 in Pudong, Shanghai.

* Known as one of the three most important HVAC/R exhibitions in the world (together with AHR and IKK), more than 630 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions displayed their latest products and technologies at this year's China Refrigeration. Shanghai and Beijing, the largest two cities of China, have hosted China Refrigeration intermittently since 1994. After a successful show last year in Beijing, it was back to Shanghai again in 2004. And the success of this year's show was even greater: the exhibition area of the Shanghai New International Expo Center, which occupies a gross floor space area of 34,500 sq m, was 6,000 sq m larger compared to 2 years ago.

This year's exhibitors included several global leading players such as Carrier, Fedders, Rheem, and Ciat of France, us well as the well known local manufacturers such as Dalian Bingshan, Broad, Yantai Moon, Midea, and Hitachi-Hisense. Leading compressor manufacturers such as Bitzer, Copeland, Danfoss, and RefComp were also present.

Most of this year's exhibitors were commercial and industrial HVAC/R manufacturers with large and well-decorated booths. The large domestic residential air-conditioning and refrigeration OEMs--Haier, Gree, Kelon, and Galanz--were absent.

HVAC appliances with energy-saving, environmentally sound, and health-related features are increasingly becoming the market trends. This was easily seen from the products on display, which reflected the newest improvements in the industry.

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Stay cool: walk-in coolers are not refrigerators--but they are equipped with refrigeration systems. Do you know what size you need?(Equipment Clinic)

The use of refrigerator-based equipment is a requirement of all foodservice operations--large or small--almost without exception. And being of such common occurrence, it's normal to take such equipment for granted.

However, like many other aspects of foodservice equipment, there's always opportunity to learn more about use and function of refrigeration. Try to answer the following questions:

* Does a refrigeration system pump cold air into a unit to lower the temperature of the food therein? Or, does it extract the heat from the food to lower its temperature?

* What is the correct temperature for holding refrigerated meats, vegetables, beverages, etc.?

* How long should it take to reduce cooked product temperatures from 140[degrees]F to below 40[degrees]F?

* Based on meal volume, what size in cubic feet should a raw bulk storage cooler be?

* Is a water-cooled refrigeration system faster than an air-cooled system?

The correct answers may not have been obvious for some of you. Refrigeration and their cooling systems are very complicated and specialized pieces of equipment that require significant analysis before the proper equipment, size and type can be determined for a particular facility.

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Strategies for successful refrigeration energy audits. (Commercial Refrigeration & Energy, Statistical Data Included)

Energy auditing plays a critical role in the efficient operation of many facilities. Buildings with large amounts of refrigeration are audited for such diverse purposes as planning capital investments, process analysis, energy use reduction, and establishing a baseline for performance contracting.

The presence of large amounts of refrigeration raises complex auditing issues that require complex evaluations. Since these buildings are difficult to compare on the basis of kwh/sq.ft./year or Btu/sq.ft./year, facility managers have no way of knowing whether or not they are being run efficiently, and what part the refrigeration systems play in the equation. This is troubling in that inefficient refrigeration systems can add thousands of dollars per year to operating costs.

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Commercial Refrigeration: A Working Example. (commercial refrigeration systems)

CB Staff Report

A wide variety of commercial refrigeration systems are currently being used in supermarkets and retail food stores. These include central refrigeration systems connected to food display cases, self-contained display cases, and walk-in refrigerators and freezers.

New designs, known as distributed systems, are also being used and place refrigeration compressors and associated components near the display cases being refrigerated.

There are also indirect systems in which a primary refrigeration system cools a secondary fluid, which then circulates through a secondary loop to the display cases. In each case, the choice of refrigerant will depend on the specific requirements of the application.

Environmental Considerations for Commercial Refrigeration

Since the mid-1980s, commercial refrigeration systems have undergone a transition ... Complete Article • Top

Keeping It Cold With Style

The challenge began simply as a need to preserve food, but improved technology and growing consumer sophistication have placed a much more complex set of demands on the commercial refrigeration industry.

Throughout its history, refrigeration has evolved to offer users ever more energy efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly options. What began with simple ice blocks used to cool wooden cabinets at the turn of the last century progressed first to mechanical refrigeration with reciprocating compressors and manual valves and controls in the early 1900s, to today's electromechanical computer-controlled systems.

The demand for change has been driven by not only the new technologies, but by the ever-changing state of the economy. Such factors as the cost of energy, environmental protection issues, and retail competition have also played roles in the revolution of refrigeration and the storage and display of food.

As retailers of refrigerated and frozen foods modernized with the times, manufacturers of coolers had to keep up with these transitions.

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