Temporary Chilled Storage System for a Food Distribution Warehouse
Temporary chilled storage- ACR supplies a chiller system to increase our clients cold chain capacity.
The Challenge;
Our client- a large national food distribution company- required additional chilled storage capacity to fulfil contractual obligations. Food was to be stored at a maximum of 3 Degrees. Typically, in excess of 1 million pounds worth of stock would be stored in the 60,000 m3 warehouse.
A rapid 5 day turnaround was required for this turnkey project.
The Solution;
Advanced Climate Rentals specified and fitted a 1.1Mw temporary chilled storage system. Because of the perishable nature and high stock value, a reliable temporary chilled storage system would be required. In view of this it was decided that 2 separate overlapping systems would be specified, offering good redundancy in the event of failure of either system.
A total of 12 50kw low temperature air handling units were fitted, mounted on a scaffolding platform. Each AHU is fitted with a defrost panel to control the electric heaters and valves required to keep the units free of ice build-up.
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Local 3 port motorised valves were used to control the chilled water flow to the AHU’s. The valves divert the chilled water flow when any AHU goes into a defrost cycle or temperature meets set-point. The use of local valves and staggered defrost cycles means the complete system does not have to be shut down when defrosting- an advantage in terms of maintaining system stability and space temperatures.
Two 550kw Trane RTAC 140 portable chillers supply water at -10Degrees- a 35% water/ Glycol mix is used.
The chilled water systems are open vented utilising tanks.
Advantages include;
- Self purging of air in the system- bleeding air/ air locks from a system this large would be very time consuming.
- Increased system capacity/ buffering, for more stable chiller operation.
- Generally more reliable and simpler over a sealed pressurised system- a pressurisation unit and expansion chamber are not required.
10Bar rubber suction and discharge hosing was used with the Camloc system for fast reliable connection. The mains were run in 4″ stepping down to 3 and then 2″ to maintain velocity. 2″ Branch fittings were installed with isolation valves and flow stations for the risers to the AHU’s. The flow stations were used for flow balancing when the system was commissioned- this maximises available duty from all AHU’s on the system.
Summery;
The complete temporary chilled storage system was installed and commissioned in three days. The system has been in reliable operation for a month and is achieving consistent temperatures within the customers range of 1 to 3 Degrees- including a 14 degree differential over a measured outside temperature of 16 Degree’s- a great performance in the unusually high seasonal temperatures.
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