COMPRESSORS
the SDI logic will be responsible to determine the right speed depending on the capacity demand. Simplicity comes from the fact that the adjustment of only one parameter allows the appliance to reach good results. This movement of evolution in the inverter’s embedded control logic is allowing the popularization of the variable speed compressor in the commercial refrigeration industry, even for the smaller OEMs, not always stacked with the required internal resources to deal with the complexity of a control unit. The use of a simple embedded control logic like the Smart Drop-In takes the complexity out of the equation, not only in the refrigeration equipment manufacturing lines but also during service in the field. Without having to go through extensive training, the OEM’s maintenance team connects their computer to the inverter and has a total of 6 parameters to work with, and that is it.
Developing today the solution of the future Let’s take the following example of energy efficiency gains with the embedded control logic. At Nidec Global Appliance, holder of the Embraco brand of refrigeration solutions, a customer’s vertical freezer for professional kitchens currently uses compressors from the Embraco EMC lineup, the brand’s most efficient on-off compressor. With it, the application already achieves the B label for energy consumption, with which the customer is very satisfied. No one in the professional kitchen segment has achieved A label in this kind of application yet.
But the customer is already working towards having a flagship product to reach A label, especially considering that the food service market expects new versions of the energy efficiency regulations for this segment’s refrigeration equipment in 1 or 2 years. For that reason we recently tested the same vertical freezer, under various ambient temperatures and conditions, using Embraco’s most energy efficient variable speed compressors family, the FMF, controlled by the Smart Drop-In (SDI) logic, and were able to bring the energy consumption 15,7% lower. Simple like that, only switching the compressor and making three SDI parameters tuning. It is important to add that if it wasn’t a comparison versus the most energy efficient (best COP) model on the market, but an average R290 fixed speed - the saving would be considerably higher, around 25%.
The end users in the food service segment will make the math of the return on investment over time and if a more efficient product pays for itself quick enough, it will be the right choice.
Versatility that leads to simplification With an inverter programmed by a control logic that is simple to operate, the variable speed compressor opens a set of possibilities to simplify processes. In the production line, equipment manufacturers can simplify their compressor’s inventory working with less different models to deliver the desired cooling capacity than when
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working with fixed speed devices. As said before, the inverter makes the compressor achieve a greater range of RPMs, allowing the use of the same compressor for a wider range of appliances sizes. It also allows the adoption of the same compressor for a wider range of ambient temperatures, not compromising temperature stability.
Inverters also make the compressor more
reliable under voltage fluctuations, especially in low voltage environments. And they can also lead to inventory simplification by enabling dual voltage solutions. At Nidec Global Appliance, we understand that the whole Embraco commercial refrigeration inverters portfolio must have dual voltage options. This way, with the very same inverter, a variable speed compressor can operate in 115V and 220V regions, even those with unstable electrical grids. Moreover, in a variable speed compressor, thanks to the applied technology, the motor can be smaller doing the same job as its fixed speed counterpart, thus reducing the size of the whole system. This brings several benefits such as more available space for products in the cabinet, and reduced transport costs.
In conclusion, inverters and variable speed
compressors contribute to reach higher competitiveness, by leveraging energy savings, reducing ambient noise, allowing more space in the cabinets, as well as reducing portfolio complexity with less compressors models (SKUs).
www.acr-news.com • May 2022 25
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