A Fast Temporary Building Solution for Imported Fruit
Client
A Major Strategic UK Port
Industry
Dock/ Import Facilities
Solutions
Temporary Insulated Building With Temperature Control
Total KW
500kw Cooling and 110kw Heating
A Major Strategic UK Port
Dock/ Import Facilities
Temporary Insulated Building With Temperature Control
500kw Cooling and 110kw Heating
This major UK based port facility required a temporary warehouse solution fast the temperature controlled storage of imported bananas.
ACR were contact by this major UK based port facility for a fast solution to expand operations in a flexible way for the storage of imported bananas.
The remit was to build as fast as possible a temporary warehouse for imported fruit on a disused concrete pad.
Not only did the facility need to be insulated, a very tight holding temperature was specified at 14 degrees plus/minus .5 degree.
Challenge accepted, and the project moved forward at speed.
As speed was of the essence we specified a 1400sq/mt Aluminium framed modular building, and because we keep these in stock, it could be rapidly deployed to site.
The building frame was insulated with 100mm PIR panels and an opaque inflatable roof for increased efficiency and stable temperature control.
Critically, because of the tight holding temperature specification at 14 degrees, plus/minus 0.5 degrees, careful design consideration was applied the equipment selection and the controls strategy. In essence, these elements need to be considered along side each other to achieve a balanced system that operates well in all conditions- no easy task.
We proposed to fit twin 250kw cooling systems to offer a high level of redundancy, meaning, that in the event of failure of either system that the duty would be maintained without loss to the product.
High air volume air handling units were specified, which include, chilled water cooling batteries and electric heaters which could be staged for accurate heating and cooling functions.
A bespoke PID controller with remote access was designed and built from the ground up. PID three term controllers are very flexible and can be tuned for excellent close temperature control. Constant monitoring and trend reporting and logging provide important data for the clients records.
Control strategy included;
With the controls design and equipment selection made we moved forward with the project, confident that the specification for this temporary warehouse for imported fruit would be delivered successfully.
In many ways the most interesting and challenging element of this project was the accurate temperature control of the space.
The building itself was a straight forward exorcise in mobilisation of stock and labour to build in what was a tight time frame, however the temperature control elements were where we focussed our thoughts.
The real game changer was the design and build of the PID control system offering the flexibility to make changes to the strategy to fine tune the system.
As envisaged, problems were encountered in ambient situations close to the set-point where minimal heating and cooling injections were required.
As can be seen from the first trend on the left hunting was noted ie. cooling overshoot was causing heating activation to bring back into range, before another cooling cycle, and repeat.
This not only creates in-efficiencies in terms of power use, but a general lack of close temperature control.
The second trend image shows the improved stable operation after adjustments were made.
All in all, we are very happy with the results achieved here and have a very happy client to boot.
To find out more about our temporary buildings please click here
