Industrial Refrigeration Systems for Cold Storage and Logistics Facilities

No. Storage volume accounts for only part of the building load. Calculate incoming product temperature and quantity, door traffic, panel performance, outdoor conditions, people, forklifts, fans and defrost loads separately. A fixed capacity per square metre can lead to major sizing errors.

A load calculation gives the final value. As an initial guide, storage rooms at +0 to +4 °C may need about 40–70 W/m³, while frozen-goods rooms at −18 to −25 °C may need 60–100 W/m³. These are holding loads only; warm incoming products or blast chilling can raise capacity to 2–4 times that range. A 1,000 m³ frozen store therefore has a rough holding load of 60–100 kW.

Cooling the products inside the store adds a product load to the holding load. Calculate it from product mass, specific heat, initial and target temperatures and allowed cooling time. If the product freezes, include latent heat for the phase change.

No. The chiller must be selected and configured for low-temperature duty. Standard comfort chillers may not meet the required evaporating temperature, glycol concentration or compressor operating envelope. A room at −18 to −25 °C may require glycol leaving at −30 to −35 °C; state this duty at the start of the project.

Ammonia and CO₂ can be highly efficient in large, continuously operating frozen-goods plants, but have greater plant-room, safety and staffing requirements. A glycol chiller can suit multi-room sites, phased growth, facilities avoiding refrigerant in storage areas and sites sharing process-cooling infrastructure. EN 378 charge limits and the available operating team also affect the decision.

More glycol improves freeze protection but also raises viscosity, pressure loss and pump energy while reducing heat transfer. Set concentration for the minimum operating temperature and size components for the actual mixture properties.

The effect depends on door size, opening duration and frequency, indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, and vehicle traffic. In busy distribution centres, infiltration can reach 20–30% of total load. Moisture entering frozen stores also freezes on evaporators, adding latent load and defrost demand.

Control defrost using actual evaporator frost conditions, not only a fixed timer. Operating hours, coil temperature, air-side pressure drop or fan performance can guide it. Excessive defrost adds heat to the room and raises energy use.

It can when outdoor air is sufficiently colder than the glycol return, but the very low temperatures needed for frozen goods limit operating hours. The opportunity is greater for cold rooms at +0 to +15 °C, loading zones and auxiliary circuits.

Meter compressors, condenser fans, evaporator fans, pumps and defrost separately. Compare consumption with stored product quantity, room volume, outdoor conditions and door traffic rather than floor area alone.

A single room sensor may not represent the whole store. Pallet layouts can block airflow, warm zones can form near doors and products may enter too warm. Critical applications use product-core or product-simulation probes alongside room sensors, with temperature mapping to verify distribution.