International. Due to multiple coolant leaks in the autonomous dryers, Intarcon provided new equipment for an intervention that became a success story.
The need for the project become evident when, after years of use, the equipment at the Matías Amutio Olave Ham plant began to leak, which led to an unsustainable situation.
From the beginning, different variables particular to the project were taken into account, such as the temperature and relative humidity necessary for the maturation of the product. Likewise, the distribution and diffusion of air as well as the design of the dryer were considered to guarantee the quality of the final result.
It should be noted that in the drying and curing chambers of hams and sausages, the air descends at high speed through ducts located on the side walls. Once it reaches the ground, the effect of the half-round on the bottom is used to deflect it horizontally. Thanks to this, the air rises back into the suction areas, which allows a correct expansion in the room and the expected drying effect.
Regaining Functionality
To solve the refrigerant leak and the consequent loss of efficiency in the facilities, it was proposed to change the equipment. This is in view of the high cost of a repair, taking into account its age of more than 30 years.
These units originally ran on R-22 and were later converted to R-404A. Therefore, the refrigerant charge was very high, as it had remote condensing batteries.
The first step that was carried out was the calculation of the refrigeration needs for the ham dryer. Previously, Jamones Matías Amutio Olave had informed the installation company Frío Iruña that the refrigeration demand was 160 kW with glycol water at -10ºC, and hot water at +40ºC to supply to its dryers.
Thus, Frío Iruña studied the project jointly with Intarcon, a company that proposed a chiller with R-152a, (with a GWP of only 124), equipped with 4 semi-hermetic compressors of 40 hp, and a heat recovery system incorporated in the chiller itself, capable of obtaining hot water at +40ºC, (180 kW) through heat recovery. virtually free of charge.
This chiller has partial heat recovery, which uses a plate exchanger to take advantage of the heat generated in condensation and heat the water.
Objectives achieved
As mentioned above, the first objective was to fix the leakage problem, while the second was to achieve environmentally friendly functionality to comply with F-Gas regulations. Thirdly, the aim was to reduce costs both in installation and in energy expenditure.
To meet them, a GWP refrigerant below 150 was used for refrigeration production, confined only within the chiller machine. The gas in the chiller is flammable, but the chiller is located on the outside of the building, so no safety measures had to be added on site.
In addition, the indirect system mitigated gas leakage by using glycol or a similar secondary fluid. In addition, the investment costs were much lower than an ammonia installation, with the additional advantage that R-152a is not a toxic gas.
As for the heat recovery system supplied, it is a solution incorporated into the chiller itself, which, together with the hydraulic units inside, allow the supply of hot glycol at +40ºC for the drying processes and defrosting.
