A series of important steps to follow to obtain significant energy savings in a cold room, from installation to commissioning.
by Eng. Willian Morales*
The global problem of air pollution as well as the global warming of the planet, make it essential to save the energy consumed with HVAC systems & R, about 20% of the world's energy is consumed in this area, so it is a priority to carry out there a work of generating legal regulations that invoke and impose on manufacturers and users the concept of energy saving, here in the Republic of Peru from March the labeling of all electrical products and mec was forced Electric nic when applying a Supreme Decree No. 053 – 2007 – EM.
In a cold room must be taken into account from its construction with great care thinking of a minimum energy consumption and maximum efficiency for the work entrusted to the conservation of perishable products, the care and recommendations must be simple and understandable, we can list these approaches to achieve the objective:
1.- Generate an insulator thickness calculated in accordance with the temperature of the product to be preserved.
2.- Locate the condensing unit and the evaporator unit with maximum operating efficiency criteria, for this we will place the condensing unit with the entry of the air to the condenser in the direction of the natural wind of the city, it would be useless to buy a highly efficient condensing equipment, if the location of the same is defective, as many
Sometimes, I find many condensing units placed in unventilated places, causing excessive electricity consumption due to their high condensation temperature, consuming up to 35% more energy than it would consume if it were well placed in a good location.
3.- The evaporator unit is another detail, I have seen diffusers placed in front of the entrance door of the cold room, which is not very advisable, evaporators stuck to the ceiling of the, which due to the coanda effect much of the cold remains on the roof of the cold room.
4.- Of the suction insulators that are never changed, generating 5-7% of energy consumption as a result of increasing the overheating in the suction pipe.
5.- Choice of suitable refrigerant as well as the working pressure of the system on the low pressure side considering that a high quality cold and a correct value of the reheating in said evaporator must be sought.
6.- Likewise, we must consider that the maintenance of the condensing and evaporator unit must be rigorous because only this carelessness in the electrical mechanical maintenance of a cold room results in a high consumption of electricity and greater environmental pollution since in the electricity generation more quantity has to be consumed
of fossil fuels.
7.- The correct sizing of the refrigerant gas pipes
8.- It is important that the system is balanced, each component in accordance with the capacity of the compressor or condensing unit at work regime.
9- Finally there are many factors that must be met today in this modern world, such as electronic thermostats, variable speed drives of electric motors, the previous design of the cold room for energy saving purposes that are several more to continue listing.
* Eng. Willian Morales Quipe. Mechanical Electrician UNI – CIP N° 93846. General Manager RETER EIRL – PERU. You can be contacted by email: [email protected]
