SUPERMARKET REFRIGERATION
Smart DC ‘fridge tech in the changing food retail industry
A
changing society in the age of digitisation and globalisation places new demands on the food retail sector. For the refrigeration technology market associated with the food retail trade, there are corresponding opportunities through the use of smart technology. Smart cooling systems for refrigerated cabinets and cold rooms include three essential features, such as inverters speed- controlled compressors with DC motors, electronic expansion valves driven by stepper motors and intelligent control at the field, management and cloud level. The following article is intended to give readers an initial insight into this technology, its application and benefits, as well as market-related relationships.
By 2050, 68% of the world’s population will live
in cities. The lifestyle of the consumer will change in favour of more frequent ‘small basket shopping’. Families and single households that are getting smaller buy less, but go shopping more often. This drives the demand for convenient shopping in close proximity and whenever possible at any time. The rise of ‘small box’ formats, such as convenience and discount stores, and e-commerce will become an important part of the future shopping landscape. The increasing number of small shop formats presents retail chains with new challenges in terms of high profitability, maintaining food quality, and sustainability in each individual shop and for the entire chain of stores guarantee. The result is an expansion and focus on smaller discount and convenience stores, also known as neighbourhood formats, to the detriment of ‘big boxes’, a term that refers to larger areas such as super, hyper and cash & carry stores . Many of these store concepts are designed on the computer and tested in practice in order to win over the customers of the future. Purchasing decisions are increasingly being made not only at the product level, but also at the level of the shopping experience, which will be characterised by excellent service, high quality and sustainability. The retail store level and the associated services and perceived experiences affect refrigeration technology directly and indirectly. A direct result is higher food quality and longer shelf life as a result of improved cooling processes. An indirect result
36 October 2020
is improved cost efficiency through lower energy and service costs. But the highest possible security against failure of refrigeration systems is perhaps an even more important criterion for the decision- making process of a food retail chain for or against one or the other refrigeration technology. The topic of sustainability must not be neglected
either and in addition to the lowest possible CO2 emissions due to low energy consumption and small refrigerant fill quantities, the quality of the goods to be cooled is also playing an increasingly important role. The aim is to keep the product temperature of the food stable, because this is the first step for optimal food quality and a longer shelf life in the sense of zero waste. Retailers appreciate this, because food that is not kept as fresh as possible and, if necessary, thrown away prematurely is not good advertising.
The above requirements can be met by smart technologies for cooling. It is the same features that contribute to reducing energy costs, which also guarantee excellent refrigerated goods: a continuously regulated refrigerant mass flow, made possible by DC compressors and stepper motor expansion valves. In addition, the associated digitised, intelligent measurement and control technology with cloud connection creates 100% transparency for further improvement of the refrigeration process.
Digitisation is playing an increasingly important role, also in refrigeration technology. Digitisation can lower the operating costs of the overall system, in particular the service and energy costs, even further than was previously possible with analog or semi-digitised systems. With regard to system optimisation, digitisation opens the way for new scenarios and future developments, especially if the amount of data generated can be used for strategic decisions. This ensures the continuity of data, ie: data must flow from the sensor, via a local device at the management level, to the cloud, where it must be evaluated with the help of appropriate applications. In doing so, data (status 0 or 1) become information – too cold or too warm – and
As explored by Claus Roland Mayer, business development manager, refrigeration retail at Carel.
decisions can be made based on information and actions can be carried out which result in goals and requirements, such as operational stability, cost reduction or better refrigerated goods quality. Behind the electronic hardware is the software, which maps the collected thermodynamic knowledge and the experience of thermodynamics specialists and makes them accessible to every user of the system. In addition, in the food retailing sector in some European countries, within the refrigeration technology sector, there are challenges related to the almost complete saturation of the markets. Examples are: Increase in operating costs and European regulations such as F-Gas and Ecodesign. This poses increasingly complex challenges for the technical managers of supermarket chains. They are required to develop innovative solutions in the areas of refrigeration technology, energy management and data-driven services in order to maintain and increase the profitability of individual branches and the entire chain of branches. One solution is the consistent digitisation and the gradual introduction of DC inverter / compressor technology in combination with electronic expansion valves for continuous mass flow control with natural or low-GWP refrigerants.
This technology is not yet a replacement for the conventional central compound system technology with CO2
as a refrigerant; it is a complementary
approach to use in small and medium-sized formats. The DC technology guarantees a high degree of efficiency in partial load operation and thus for most of the operation. Thanks to a wide range of modulation of the cooling capacity, it can be used in various performance and application areas. DC compressors can adapt their output to the actual demand and thus meet the cooling demand at every operating point and at the same time achieve savings of up to 40% compared to on/off solutions or compressors with step control. Since the permanent magnet rotor of the compressor does not have to be supplied with electricity, further savings can be achieved.
DC technology offers a cooling system the option of modulating the cooling capacity according to the actual load requirement. Permanent magnet compressors with variable speed and intelligent
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