When you have made the business decision to install a cold room or cold room, it is necessary to take into account a number of factors on which the proper functioning and effectiveness of the equipment will depend.
The design of cold rooms goes hand in hand with the characteristics of your business and the objectives set for the conservation and operation of food, industrial materials or medical substances.
Contact us today for more information about the services we offer related to cool rooms and everything related to refrigeration. We’ll help you design and offer maintenance to your cold room so it completely matches your expectations, we’ll be ready to assist you and help you achieve your goals.
Raising the requirements for proper cooling
An expert in commercial refrigeration equipment, should take an inventory of the needs of your company to offer solutions that primarily consider:
- Refrigeration objectives according to your industry
Number of products, capacity, etc. Among the uses of cold stores are:
- Frozen product storage
- Refrigerated product storage
- Blast Freezer or fast freezing
- Process room
- Precooling of fruits or vegetables
- Fruit ripening
- Maturation of meats or cheeses
- Wine storage
- Convenience store
- Products or medical tests
- Conservation of industrial material products
- Energy saving
Or how to use the type of cold room or cold room in a way that helps maintain a low level of consumption as much as possible.
- The current ecological standards.
There are refrigeration processes and equipment that use refrigerant gases that severely affect the environment and your cold room must conform to regulations at the risk of raising costs or lending itself to environmental fines.
Nowadays many companies are taking this into consideration not only because of the regulations but because they allow considerable energy savings.
Do you know the environmentally friendly natural refrigerant gases?:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2) or R-744: with a low potential for damage to the ozone layer, it is a gas commonly used in the automotive industry.
- Ammonia (NH3) or R-717 is a refrigerant gas primarily for industrial use. It can be used on new and existing equipment.
- Refrigerants composed of hydrocarbons (HC). They are refrigerants that have an A3 classification, (they are flammable gases). Its use requires a series of precautions, including deep knowledge of the refrigerant. They are applied in small refrigeration systems.
Do you know what are the synthetic refrigerant gases whose use will soon disappear?
These are synthetic refrigerants such as:
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC)
- Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC)
- Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
It is known that these chemicals are harmful to the ozone layer, causing the greenhouse effect and global warming, so their use is very controlled and, therefore, more expensive.
Relevant factors for cold room design
In addition to these general characteristics, an expert in refrigeration chambers should consider your daily operation to be able to design your cold room.
The daily logistics of your company defines how many times a day the product enters and leaves the cold store, how many people access it and how long they remain inside the room. This implies that temperature fluctuations due to the heat flow in the refrigeration needs must be taken into account.
For example, temperature changes due to the presence of an open window or door and the heat emanating from people who will work in the cold room.
Similarly, in smaller businesses that require refrigerated display cases, the number of times the main window is opened or the movement of the products affects the heat flow.
This is a fundamental element that the expert must consider to offer you a cold room equipment that is viable, economical and that complies with current regulations.
Needs and components of a cold room
It is important that your cold room project involves all stages of the installation: from design, refrigeration equipment, valves and control engineering and heat exchangers corresponding to the type of refrigerant, etc.
In addition, a refrigeration expert must list the following characteristics:
- Dimension of the cold room
- Type of product to keep
- How does the product enter the cold room?
- Choice of refrigerant gas
With this information, it is possible to start the design of an ideal cold room that takes into account the use and flow of products to keep the equipment functioning in optimal conditions.
Some basic elements that a cold room includes are:
- Access door
- Glass door
- Custom cut panels
- Finishing Profiles
- Condensing unit
- Evaporator
- Valves
Everything mentioned corresponds to the requirements of a cold room.
However, depending on the mechanical system to be implemented (direct expansion, liquid recirculation) or the refrigerant necessary to lower temperatures (halocarbons, ammonia, carbon dioxide, etc.), the specifications regarding pipes, valves and heat exchangers will change.
Common mistakes in the installation of cold rooms
Errors in the design and installation of cold rooms are more common than it seems, among the most frequent are:
- Use of non-insulating material such as partitions or panels without polyurethane, the ceiling and walls.
- Cold rooms or cameras without comfortable dimensions that help the manoeuvre and storage of products.
- Design and choice of equipment not optimal for the product to be stored and preserved.
- Cold rooms without an adequate access system causes a significant fluctuation of the temperature that can damage the products.
Today, maintaining the products that make your business exist is a necessity that must be procured in an optimal way that meets the purposes of quality, savings and care for the environment.
Defining the requirements before installation is a first step to guarantee the operation and the useful life of the cold room that your business demands.
The time invested and the information provided to the person in charge of designing this strategic tool for the conservation of your products will result in profitability, growth and consolidation of your company, so in no case should it be taken lightly.
Here at PR Cool Rooms you will find a team of professionals ready to assist you with any issues or consultations you may have regarding cool rooms.
