Currently the refrigeration controls market seeks to satisfy a latent need of the industry, the reduction of costs through energy and waste savings, a vital conjugation thinking about the future and profitability.
by: Santiago Jaramillo H.
Any industry aims to satisfy the customer by delivering the best product at the best price, but if this is done under parameters of efficiency, responsibility and savings, of course without sacrificing quality, it will be an undeniable benefit that will surely represent profit margin to any company.
If you look closely at the refrigeration controls segment, you can infer that it is no stranger to this simple formula for business success, so it has been necessary to route itself in the way of the demands that its users make loudly: save energy and control waste to the maximum point.
This is evident Rodnei Peres, representative of the Department of Foreign Trade of the company Full Gauge Controls, when indicating that in terms of innovation and development a very important point is the issue of savings.
"The current controls make it increasingly possible to save energy or control the production of too much waste. Leaving the facility under control allows waste to reach close to zero, that is, the more manufacturers support and accept new developments or concepts, the more companies that develop act in this regard. Today, anywhere in the world, it is possible to alter a control temperature of a frozen counter, for example. We are talking about a very big change, because less than ten years ago it was necessary to send a person to the facility to make the adjustment, "emphasizes the representative of the industry of Brazil.
In the same way, Fernando Becerra, sales manager of Danfoss (Colombia) S.A., warns that another great innovation in this regard is "the use of ecological refrigerants according to our markets, as well as incorporating more electronics: variable speed drives, electronic expansion valves, control and monitoring systems, etc.".
In the same sense is the opinion of Gilberto Rossato de Medeiros, Commercial Director of Globus Sistemas Electrónicos Ltda., who maintains that his company is in a line of making compact and multifunction products. In this new direction we have low cost and an incredible ease of installation and configuration, which seeks to meet the needs of the customer."
As Rodnei Peres points out, the variables are many, but the main one is still temperature. The more you invest in getting a facility under control, the more we get success. Sustainability is a consequence. The new developments that the industry seeks are always aimed at saving electricity, while focusing on the issue of sustainability, where the main variables would be, save energy and avoid waste.
Rossato de Medeiros reinforces the issue by indicating that energy savings are undoubtedly vital, but he complements by asserting that not only cooling controls are important, the entire system must also be taken into account designing for this.
"Not only the controls make the difference, but also with the systems, the frequency inverters, the energy use of the capacitors, cold storage, among other variables, the long-awaited efficiency is achieved."
Becerra, on the other hand, notes that when starting with any project it is very important to take into account all the variables: Selection of the equipment properly and incorporate a control that allows to keep the design variables constant.
Variables to be controlled: constant suction pressure, constant condensation pressure, constant overheating, etc. This seeks to have temperatures and differentials in constant evaporators.
Full control
The representative of the Department of Foreign Trade of the company Full Gauge Controls emphasizes that you should always have maximum control in a facility. Problems must be avoided (anticipated), not only that the manager is warned when there is a failure, but that he knows how to handle it.
Currently the systems comply with the above, "but the training of personnel and continuous technical support is essential for a system to be successful. And remote administration has come with total importance to make possible the total control of the facilities, allowing to evaluate, configure and store, continuously, data of temperature, humidity, time, pressure and voltage, making it possible to modify the parameters of the controllers with total safety and precision. They also make it possible to obtain graphs and reports, send alert messages to cell phones and e-mails in the event that the parameters do not agree with the desired limits, among other actions, "he emphasizes.
Similarly, ease of installation and operation are also very important needs in the consideration of a successful solution, as well as compliance with customer requirements, generating the lowest energy consumption.
Growing segment
Surely supermarkets and in general the food sector are the strongest segments currently served by the refrigeration controls industry, given the great dynamism and constant investment achieved in recent years in Latin America in this sector.
The sales manager of Danfoss (Colombia) S.A., explains that in his country in the area of commercial refrigeration investments grew this year well above GDP. "We have large investments in infrastructure, oil and mining, which forces investments in hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, etc. The 12 billion dollars of foreign investment this year, 40% is destined for sectors other than energy, which boosts all sectors of the economy," he says.
He also points out that the area of industrial refrigeration with ammonia has had a significant rebound this year when the projects were reactivated after overcoming the crisis of the previous year.
As for the challenges that are presented to the segment in the future, the representative of the Department of Foreign Trade of the company Full Gauge Controls adds that it is of the utmost importance to deliver more possibilities to the current systems, allowing them more actions that culminate in the improvement of the facilities, integrating, for example, the remote administration software to cell phones, what is already possible today, but which in the near future will go from being a simple service to an obligation.
