Advanced Controls on Refrigeration

A large food processing or storage and distribution facility can be in the hundreds of thousands of square feet and have fifty or more rooftop refrigeration units or a central refrigeration system providing cooling to fifty or more rooms containing millions of dollars of product with energy costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.  Maintaining the proper operating temperature is critical for proper food handling and shelf life storage of the product.  

The principals developed by William Cullen in 1748 that showed how rapid heating of a liquid to a gas can result in cooling is the basis of refrigeration.  The refrigeration mechanical controls that were used over one hundred years ago cannot efficiently control the cooling process or monitor the equipment to be proactive when units require repair.  In the past refrigeration service was determined when room temperature went high enough for it to be reported.  With advanced electronic refrigeration controls interfaced with computers alarms are generated before product is compromised and a costly repair required.          

Energy Consulting Services, Inc. has been designing and installing advanced refrigeration control systems for over twenty years.  We use Danfoss refrigeration controls and write algorithms to provide an unsurpassed level of safety and economical operation of refrigeration systems.  In addition, we take the time to know your facility and how it operates to customize the control parameters to reduce utility costs by understanding and taking advantage of time of day electric rates thru dual temperature control algorithms and electric demand limiting thru temperature or floating suction pressure reset while still adhering to strict product temperature range limits.  We provide:

• Electronic self calibrating temperature sensors accurate to .1 degree Fahrenheit rather than a mechanical thermostat accurate to +/- 2 degrees Fahrenheit.  This prevents overcooling and its associated energy cost or undercooling product and its loss of shelf life.
• Computer algorithms that reset operating temperatures to take advantage of lower cost time of day electric rates and use the product as "ice storage" during high electric rate periods.  This has allowed some facilities to refrigerate at fifty cents on the dollar.
• Computer algorithms to monitor and predict electric demand surges and adjust refrigeration within preset temperature ranges to level out and reduce the electric demand cost of the utility bill.  Electric demand is usually measured four times an hour, ninety six time a day and almost three thousand times a month.  Only a computer algorithm can accomplish that level of attention to detail.
• Electronic discharge pressure pressure monitoring of refrigeration systems.  This allows for proactive cleaning of condensers and repair of condenser fan motors before a compressor safety holds it off or its internal wiring is damaged due to overheating.
• Electronic suction pressure monitoring to monitor, calculate and control superheat.
• Electronic expansion valves to maximize refrigeration capacity of evaporators, prevent liquid flood back causing damage to compressors and reduce superheat raising overall system efficiency up to 33%.
• Electronic defrost initiation and termination thru custom control algorithms and electronic temperature sensors that "see" the need for defrost.  Minimizing defrost is a huge energy saver because the less heat being put into the space during a defrost requires that much less electricity heating the evaporator coil up and less electricity for the refrigeration compressor to take the room back to temperature.
• Computer control of the refrigeration evaporator fans to turn off after a set time after a refrigeration cycle and restart to prevent temperature stratification in the room as needed.  This saves kWh in evaporator fan motor run time and reduced refrigeration required removing the heat generated by the fan motor efficiency factors as well as  reduces the noise in the working environment.                  

See letters of recommendation in our "references" section and case studies in our "information" section of our website.

Utility rebate programs give rebates for advanced refrigeration systems.  Most programs with proper engineering documentation and submission will buy the system cost down to one year or fifty percent of the system cost whichever is less.  Energy Consulting Services, Inc. has done this successfully.

Alternative off balance sheet financing, leasing, split savings or performance contracting may be available to your facility.

The food wholesale industry operates on a two percent net margin.  Reducing energy cost by ten thousand dollars a month is equivalent to selling six million dollars worth of product a year you did not have to buy, store, sell or transport.  

The food processing industry operates on a six percent net margin.  Reducing energy cost by ten thousand dollars a month is equivalent to selling two million dollars woth of product a year you did not have to manufacture, store or transport.