SAVING ENERGY

SAVING ENERGY

Cold Storage Containers are essential today for cold preservation, providing solutions to agriculture producers, storage hubs, supermarkets, meat packing plants, and to all sectors where cold is needed in general terms.

Storage in modular systems as the cold storage containers is an optimal option, since it does not require a great investment; risks are minor and the possibility of movement within the facilities, within a region or from one region to the other, with great ease and low operational costs.

Introduction

Products above 0ºC are called “cooled” while those products under 0ºC are “frozen”.

We suggest not to mix cooled and frozen products and vice versa, since that would mean adding thermal burden (heat or cold) to the products that were already at adequate temperatures, thus forcing the machinery operation, and increasing energy consumption.

I. Refrigerated Atmosphere (over 0ºC)

A cargo over 10ºC or 15ºC in a refrigerated room at a temperature over 5ºC forces the operation of the engines to reduce temperature down to room temperature, hence increasing power consumption. In this case, the situation will worsen with the increase in temperature of the product stored earlier which was already under optimum storage conditions.

II. Frozen Atmosphere (below 0ºC)

Cargo refrigerated at temperatures below or above 0ºC, mixed with products frozen at -18ºC release large amounts of water crystals and tends to block the reefer’s gutters, rendering the venting system inefficient. This forces the engines to work more, also resulting in an increase of electric consumption.

As reefers are manufactured following international patterns and standards (ISO) they give us a good margin with regard temperature loss. In case of energy interruption, either because of malfunctioning, transportation or any defect, temperature will drop at a rate of 2ºC in 24 hours, even if the container is left in open spaces.

Basic Energy-Saving Rules
·Keep the doors of the container closed as long as possible. This will significantly reduce energy consumption. In general terms, repeated opening of doors generates the greatest peaks of energy consumption.

·Program loading and removal of goods beforehand. This will reduce the time and number of times the doors are opened.

· As was mentioned above, when reloading the container, the goods introduced have temperatures that are slightly higher than goods already stored. To prevent them from forming crystals that will block the gutter, it is advisable to turn the engine off while the container is being reloaded and turn it on again once the doors are closed. More space than normal should be left to facilitate air circulation.

·Store products correctly, leaving a corridor for goods inspection whenever possible.

·Reduce temperature, always by 2 degrees, within the tolerance limits allowed.

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