A sound cooling system challenge in cold storage

The parameter of a sound cooling system should be able to meet the highest and steady demand with linear energy.

Consumers’ perspective 

In the last few decades, many technological upgrades have occurred in the cold storage industry. Globally, high energy-efficient refrigeration is available with excellent performance and thermal insulations, which has changed the industry’s landscape. Mukesh Aggarwal, General Secretary of the Federation of Cold Storage Association of India, talks about vital challenges facing the Indian cold storage industry regarding space, technological advancement and changing scenarios.

Talking about the challenges, he says, “We operate the largest frozen cold storage in Delhi for the potato culture, which we have been operating for the last 40 years. During this course, the first challenge that we are facing is energy efficiency. Secondly, we face the challenge of the space constraint that we have in metro cities for cold storage and the huge amount of space they require, and the value of space they occupy. Almost 50 percent of the plant cost goes towards the machinery plant area.”

In metro cities, meeting the economics of cold storage is challenging. So one had to settle R404 for a system that was a bit higher on the energy side. But it gave a lot of leeway in terms of efficiency in terms of space-saving and putting it on the rooftop, thereby using gravity cooling, with the petite length of piping attached.

 

The parameters of a sound cooling system 

Today sound cooling systems are highly energy efficient. Presently, the energy cost is enormous. It is observed that the energy cost is going high every year. The dollar increases by 8 percent, but the energy cost increases by 15 percent annually. That is a correlation. However, the government says that they have not increased the electricity prices. Still, additional charges are levied on the diesel and in Delhi, there is a CNG generator instead of diesel, and the amount of CapEx goes with it. A sound cooling system can give a minor energy consumption for all the temperature zones, whether it is minus 18 for frozen or plus two at chilled or plus 15 for pharma.

The dry temperature these days is at least 30 degrees and has increased by almost 1 percent or 2 percent in a decade. When we started retrofitting frozen, cooled storage approximately a decade back in 2007, the highest temperature was 43 to 44 degrees in Delhi and lasted for a maximum of one week. Whereas last year the average temperature or the highest temperature registered was 48 to 49 degrees, and it sustained for a pretty long period, for more than two to three weeks. So, in these changing environmental scenarios, the parameter of a sound cooling system is that it should be able to meet the highest demand and the steady demand with the optimum energy efficiency. Moreover, Freon systems work better as cooling systems than ammonia systems.     

The industry is different from what it used to be 40 to 50 years back. Today, it is the backbone of every food supply chain. Currently, we store 100 times more capacity. There are 9000 Plus cold storage in India, with an average capacity of 5000 to 6000 metric tons. This was less than 1000, with an average capacity of 2000 to 3000 metric tons. So, the quantum has increased many folds, and so has increased the supply of intelligent and professionals mind and evolving new technologies.

Nowadays, most of the technologies are in western countries based, and the same is being adopted in India. There is a pertinent need that the refrigeration system should be designed according to the temperature zones and environmental conditions prevailing in India. For an efficient cooling system, the whole system has to be redesigned according to our country’s environment and the geography in which we live. Almost in the last seventy years, refrigeration systems have been imported and assembled in India. And, precisely, that is what needs to be overcome.