Brazil. The cost with electricity is constantly at the top of the list of expenses of restaurants, markets, among other establishments. But owners and managers who believe that turning off refrigeration equipment at night is a good alternative to reduce expenses with electric power are mistaken.
With the technology currently available for cold chain control, such as smart digital thermostats, electronic expansion valves, as well as supervisory systems for remote management, it is possible to control the entire installation remotely and ensure the optimization of the use of energy resources intelligently.
"Turning off freezers and cold rooms at night is a type of practice that can bring serious health risks to customers who consume a stored merchandise with the wrong temperature," says the application engineering consultant of Full Gauge Controls, Fábio Tedesco. He also points out that, by keeping the equipment off during the night, when it is restarted, for example, in the morning, the consumption generated will be much higher because of the compensation, because the food will be hot. That is, there is no real benefit and there is also the great probability of damaging the merchandise (or even losing it completely), which can cause serious food poisoning.
Always attentive to trends in the refrigeration market, Full Gauge Controls developed, in 1997, Sitrad, remote management software that plays an important role in this type of situation. The brand's controllers can be connected to the system, and with this they offer a complete solution for the user. "Sitrad has innumerable functionalities, including the possibility of generating consumption graphs, expense reports, among others, allowing total control over refrigeration facilities," says Tedesco.
The data generated is encrypted, which guarantees the total security of the information. With this, the results can be presented to clients and oversight bodies, such as Anvisa (Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency) and FDA, a North American institution responsible for the control of food and medicines that has this type of requirement. "Sitrad also allows the intelligent management of the equipment, that is, by analyzing the data you can determine the periods in which the system can be deactivated without the temperature rising to the point of causing damage to the goods, it is what we call intelligent shutdown with economic setpoint: it reduces the compressor starts, saving without putting at risk what is stored," he says.
The download can be done for free (on the website www.sitrad.com/es) and there is no utilization fee. In addition to controlling data and generating reports, the tool sends alarms (by e-mail or SMS) whenever a parameter is outside what was established, which allows greater agility in problem solving. And to have access to the information, it is enough to use a device (tablet, computer or cell phone) connected to the Internet.
In addition to supervisory software, electronic expansion valves are another important ally when looking for energy efficiency. Depending on the project of each cooling system, they can mean a reduction of up to 30% in consumption. "In Full Gauge Controls we have VX-950 Plus, which saves on the drives of the equipment (which can be smaller), factors responsible for saving electrical energy," he explains. The manufacturer also has other products for air conditioning, heating and solar heating, as well as cooling, with functionalities that also promise to help reduce the electricity bill. Among them, the TC-900E Log controller stands out. This instrument has a luminosity sensor, which perceives when the lights of the establishment were turned off and activates the economic mode of the equipment.
