Case studies by Hillphoenix, Creative Thermal Solutions, Cimco, Secop, Efficient Energy, Optimized Thermal Solutions, Embraco and Cubigel Compressors have been selected for ATMOsphere America 2016.
The case studies cover a cornucopia of topics including training for natural refrigerant-based systems, hydrocarbon refrigerants for lab equipment, integration of CO2-based refrigeration and HVAC requirements in supermarkets, efficient use of water as a refrigerant and more.
With increasing adoption of CO2 booster technology, training and proper installation practices are more important than ever. This presentation will provide an overview of best practices for training programs and installation for CO2 booster systems.
The study will explore training programs currently available on the market as well as best practices for ensuring that technicians in the field are appropriately trained. Hillphoenix will also discuss best practices for installing and starting up CO2 systems. It is critical that proper installation and startup procedures are followed for these systems. The presentation will leverage significant experience to highlight important installation practices as well as key learnings from past installations.
Application of natural refrigerant in platelet storage equipment and performance comparison with HFC, Creative Thermal Solutions
The focus of this case study is the conversion of an R134a refrigeration system of an existing Helmer’s platelet incubator to use a natural refrigerant (R600a) and demonstrate that the converted unit can meet all the performance requirements.
Performance of the retrofitted system was optimized by capillary tube size selection and refrigerant charge amount. The temperature uniformity performance was further improved by evaporator fan speed and replacing the condensate heater with a discharge hot gas loop saved energy. The redesigned machine had only 50g of R600a refrigerant charge compared to 142g of R134a. On average 20% lower energy consumption was measured and cabinet temperature uniformity was within required +/-1°C for all tested conditions. At ambient temperature 25°C (corresponding to air-conditioned laboratories) even tighter cabinet temperature uniformity of +/-0.5°C was achieved in the R600a incubator.
Fruit and Vegetables storage goes natural refrigerant in Quebec, CIMCO Refrigeration
Between 2010 and 2013, Cimco has installed four industrial refrigeration systems in fruit and vegetable cold storage facilities. The case study will explore the complex refrigeration requirement for fruit and vegetable storage, maintained by systems consisting of a central ammonia systems located in the mechanical room, which cool single or double CO2 brine loops, which is circulated to the various rooms. Many technical challenges were faced in designing this system, including the handling of the increased pressures of CO2.
R600a SolarChill Vaccine Coolers, Secop
The requirements for systems for vaccine storage are tough, requiring stable temperature between +2 oC and +8 oC and the ability to keep this for a minimum of 48 hours without electricity available. For developing countries these requirements are a big challenge as many people are living in areas without access to electricity.
When Secop started the development of solar “direct drive” compressors, the challenge was to develop a system (compressor & controller) able to start directly on a PV panel without any additional energy. The system was developed to use R600a refrigerant in order to offer the most environmental friendly solution. Vestfrost, who developed the vaccine cooler in corporation with Danish Technology Institute, addressed the challenge of maintaining the temperature level. To date, 29 direct-drive vaccine coolers from eight different manufacturers are approved by the WHO.
How to successfully use water as refrigerant in a centrifugal chiller, Efficient Energy
Efficient Energy will introduce a new centrifugal compressor based cooling system using only water as a refrigerant by explaining its working principle and its energy performance. Field test results will be presented confirming the very high energy efficiency of the device. Finally, next steps towards the wide industrialization will be discussed.
Design, Construction, and Testing of Geothermal CO2 Air Conditioner, Optimized Thermal Systems
A major portion of energy in residences is consumed for air-conditioning and heating. Geothermal (water-to-air) heat pumps have proven to be more efficient than air-to-air heat pumps; however, they typically use refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP). CO2 is a low-GWP refrigerant and can be a viable option for application in heat pumps. Since the heat rejection will be to the circulated water at temperatures within the 18°C – 30°C range, the CO2 thermodynamic cycle will be predominantly subcritical, as opposed to being supercritical if used in an air-to-air system. Thus, the efficiency of a CO2 system is expected to be as high as that of conventional systems if it is operated in the subcritical region.
In this project, a geothermal air conditioner with a 2-ton (7.0 kW) cooling capacity was designed, built, and tested. The COP of the heat pump is 4.8 based on the test conditions stated in the ISO 13256-1 standard. The performance of the cooling system was optimized for various air and water inlet temperatures.
Plug n’ Cool: A new concept in commercial refrigeration, Embraco
Embraco will present the results of rigorous testing conducted using real-world applications in a controlled lab environment for their latest version of the R290. Plug n’ Cool sealed unit line for convenience stores, supermarkets and professional kitchens. The cost and efficiency analysis will include the impact of leakage prevention, energy savings gained from eliminating the need for remote refrigeration, time and money saved from the installation easiness and maintenance costs reduction. The expectation is that final TCO (total cost of ownership) will be as much as 20 percent lower over the equipment’s lifecycle.
The lowest energy consumption when using R290 LBP fixed speed compressors in a plug in ice conservator, Cubigel Compressors
Cubigel will share experiences testing an existing freezer using efficient R290 LBP compressors, which allow up to 25 percent energy savings in an energy consumption test. In a first stage the range was launched for the European market, but has been now expanded to the North American market.
Between 2010 and 2013, Cimco has installed four industrial refrigeration systems in fruit and vegetable cold storage facilities. The case study will explore the complex refrigeration requirement for fruit and vegetable storage, maintained by systems consisting of a central ammonia systems located in the mechanical room, which cool single or double CO2 brine loops, which is circulated to the various rooms. Many technical challenges were faced in designing this system, including the handling of the increased pressures of CO2.
R600a SolarChill Vaccine Coolers, Secop
The requirements for systems for vaccine storage are tough, requiring stable temperature between +2 oC and +8 oC and the ability to keep this for a minimum of 48 hours without electricity available. For developing countries these requirements are a big challenge as many people are living in areas without access to electricity.
When Secop started the development of solar “direct drive” compressors, the challenge was to develop a system (compressor & controller) able to start directly on a PV panel without any additional energy. The system was developed to use R600a refrigerant in order to offer the most environmental friendly solution. Vestfrost, who developed the vaccine cooler in corporation with Danish Technology Institute, addressed the challenge of maintaining the temperature level. To date, 29 direct-drive vaccine coolers from eight different manufacturers are approved by the WHO.
How to successfully use water as refrigerant in a centrifugal chiller, Efficient Energy
Efficient Energy will introduce a new centrifugal compressor based cooling system using only water as a refrigerant by explaining its working principle and its energy performance. Field test results will be presented confirming the very high energy efficiency of the device. Finally, next steps towards the wide industrialization will be discussed.
Design, Construction, and Testing of Geothermal CO2 Air Conditioner, Optimized Thermal Systems
A major portion of energy in residences is consumed for air-conditioning and heating. Geothermal (water-to-air) heat pumps have proven to be more efficient than air-to-air heat pumps; however, they typically use refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP). CO2 is a low-GWP refrigerant and can be a viable option for application in heat pumps. Since the heat rejection will be to the circulated water at temperatures within the 18°C – 30°C range, the CO2 thermodynamic cycle will be predominantly subcritical, as opposed to being supercritical if used in an air-to-air system. Thus, the efficiency of a CO2 system is expected to be as high as that of conventional systems if it is operated in the subcritical region.
In this project, a geothermal air conditioner with a 2-ton (7.0 kW) cooling capacity was designed, built, and tested. The COP of the heat pump is 4.8 based on the test conditions stated in the ISO 13256-1 standard. The performance of the cooling system was optimized for various air and water inlet temperatures.
Plug n’ Cool: A new concept in commercial refrigeration, Embraco
Embraco will present the results of rigorous testing conducted using real-world applications in a controlled lab environment for their latest version of the R290. Plug n’ Cool sealed unit line for convenience stores, supermarkets and professional kitchens. The cost and efficiency analysis will include the impact of leakage prevention, energy savings gained from eliminating the need for remote refrigeration, time and money saved from the installation easiness and maintenance costs reduction. The expectation is that final TCO (total cost of ownership) will be as much as 20 percent lower over the equipment’s lifecycle.
The lowest energy consumption when using R290 LBP fixed speed compressors in a plug in ice conservator, Cubigel Compressors
Cubigel will share experiences testing an existing freezer using efficient R290 LBP compressors, which allow up to 25 percent energy savings in an energy consumption test. In a first stage the range was launched for the European market, but has been now expanded to the North American market.
