Cold room: Introduction

What is a cold room?

• A cold room is a refrigerated
room used to store
perishable foods to prevent
them from getting damaged.
Cold rooms are designed
• To receive and store fresh / frozen food
or pre-cooled products
• For food processing.
• For food packaging.
• Shape future designs [temperature
consistency, food quality
(humidity/structure, etc.), and
monitor/control/ alert]
Purpose of a cold room
• To receive and store:
• Fresh food
•  Pre-cooled food
•  Frozen food
• for food processing facilities
and food packing
Cold chain
• A cold chain is a
temperature
controlled supply
chain to store and
distribute food
products, thereby
retaining its
quality.
Examples of Products that can be stored in
a cold room
Types of food products
What is food quality
• Food quality is a term used to describe
both physical and individually
perceived factors.
• Physical factors: Type and level of
bacterial contamination and chemical
processes, type and quantity of food
preservatives added.
• Individually perceived factors: taste,
color, smell, consistency, etc...
Methods to preserve the quality of food

We will look into refrigerated storage of food in this module.

Influence of temperature on food quality
• Temperature has a significant influence on the microbiological processes and chemical process
that happen in food products.

Micro biological process

 Low temperature lowers the growth rate of micro-
organisms. Typically the relation between growth rate
and temperature is exponential - therefore a change of
only a few degrees can make a large difference in
growth rate.
 Many micro-organisms require temperatures above 0 °C
for optimum growth conditions, but some organisms
can grow until -12 °C.
 Freezing a product normally kills only 10 - 90 % of the
various micro-organisms - meaning that a product can’t
be sterilized by freezing. One type of micro-organisms
that sometimes can be killed by freezing is parasites.
Storing a product at -20 °C for a couple of days (or a
week) is normally enough.
Chemical process

 Temperature also influences the chemical processes.

 The lower the temperature the lower the reaction rate.

 Lowering the temperature can not stop most chemical process - these
processes will continue until the temperature reaches -273.15 °C (equal to 0
K).

 Depletion of tissues is needed in some case (Beef)

 When cooling fresh products like fresh meat the temperature must not be
brought down to rapidly as this may cause damage to the product.

 In fruit and vegetables the temperature influences the metabolism and

thereby the heat of respiration
Storage of food products under different
temperature
Influence of humidity on food quality
 Growth of micro-organisms is also influenced by
humidity of the surrounding air.

 Water content in food product helps microorganisms to

grow.

 Low humidity removes water content from the food

product, results in loss of weight and quality.

Fresh Tomato Low humidity  So its necessary to maintain the humidity of

(Dry tomato) surrounding air to keep food products fresh and
increase the lifetime.

 In order to maintain a constant and correct humidity,

the temperature must be kept constant.

 Depending on the products stored, it is necessary to

add humidity in the cold room by using a dampener to
ensure a correct level of humidity.
Influence of air velocity on food quality

 The air velocity influences

cooling and dehydration of the
product.

 Higher air flow velocity increases

the heat transfer of the product
and the dehumidification rate.

 Increase air dehumidification rate

causes loss of water content
from the product.

 So we need to maintain correct

Low air velocity   High air velocity   level of airflow velocity in the
Fresh apple Dehydrated apple system.

 Product factor (PF) depends on

the air velocity and the type of
food product.
Cold room - overview
Cold room - Refrigeration circuit
 Cold room - Construction
We have to consider the following facts while constructing a cold room.

 Thickness of insulation in the walls

 Insulation value of the insulation walls.

 Door frame heating to avoid frost formations preventing door from opening.

 Floor heating must be done to avoid ground freezing of soil.

 Air change.

 Ventilation under the floor.

 Pressure relief valve in wall to equalize pressure between room and ambient (Two-way pressure equalization).

 A stripped curtain/air door.

 Man in cold room alarm is mandatory for negative temperature cold rooms and if the volume is over 10 m3 (ISO
27000). In the other cases, it is recommended to have this kind of alarm. This alarm has to be acoustic-visual.
Cold room - Construction
 Cold room - Product arrangements
 Store products so that air can move freely around the
products.

 Give more distance between products if cooling or freezing

is needed.

 Store products in either fixed or moveable equipment

 Fixed: Shelves, hooks, etc.
 Moveable: Carts, boxes, hooks on rails etc.
 Clip-on unit
Cold room - Types

 Different types of cold room and details are shown in

the table given below.

Remote CU Remote Rack

Types of Cold Room - Clip-On unit (Self-contained)

 Refrigeration systems for cold rooms are available

as clip-on refrigeration packages.
 The refrigeration package includes the compressor
and coils (evaporator and condenser) in one
housing.
 It is used mainly for cold rooms smaller than 30 m3
and usually with only one temperature zone.
 The unit can be installed from the top or the side of
the cold room.
 Clip-on units are one-to-one systems (i.e. one
compressor, one condenser and one evaporator).
 Types of Cold Room - Remote Condensing Unit (CU)

 The condenser may be mounted with the compressor or may be remote mounted.
 This design incorporates a single condensing unit or package unit linked to the evaporator
by pipe.
 The evaporator is usually mounted on the ceiling of the cold room and is fitted with one or
more fans to circulate the air within the cold room.
 This type of room can be used indoors or outdoors.
 Remote CU types are one-to-one systems (i.e. one compressor, one condenser and one
evaporator).
 Types of Cold Room - Remote rack

 Large-scale users such as supermarkets and storage

centres use centralised refrigeration systems with
several compressors mounted on a rack.
 These systems can be remote from the cold rooms
them selves, and are linked by pipes to each room.
 They can utilise regulators to control the temperature
of each evaporator independent of the others.
 A remote rack system consists of 2 to 6 compressors,
1 condenser, up to 20 cold rooms and more than 20
cabinets.
 What happens in a Cold Room?

 A cold room reduces the ambient temperature to the required lower temperature, and
maintains that low temperature to keep the food products from deteriorating for a long
period of time.
 Refrigeration Application for Commercial Purpose

Let us take a look at some applications of refrigeration

systems for commercial purposes.
Frost & Defrosting

Frost
• Frost is frozen water (humidity) on the surface of an air cooler. The
frost on the evaporator may have different forms -- as snow (like snow-
dust / snowflakes), as solid ice, or in between these two stages.
• Frost comes from the dehydration of the goods and the humidity from
the air (the air passing through the air cooler).
• Frost builds up on the surface of an air cooler when the temperature of
the cooling surface is below 0°C.

Defrosting
Defrosting is the process of removing the frost that has built up on the
surface of the evaporator. It can be carried out by the application of heat
coming from electricity, from hot/cold gas from the high pressure side,
from hot air from cold room itself, from hot water, or from a combination
of some of these.
By defrosting
•we can keep the cooling surface free from frost, resulting in very good heat transfer and optimal
system operation.
•we can allow the air to flow freely, thereby improving the performance of the air cooler.
Defrosting - why
Why is defrosting necessary?

Because frost (ice build-up) can cause problems, as

follows:
How often does defrosting need to be done, and for how long?

 This depends on the products stored and their humidity, the frequency of
people moving inside the cold room, the number of times the door is opened
per day, air infiltration and the humidity of the air, etc.
 Defrosting  must be carried out as often as necessary and before it is too late.
 If the defrosting period is too short and not all the ice is melted, even more ice
will build up.
Defrosting - How to do
We can defrost (remove ice from) the evaporator by using
How is defrosting carried out? heat from different sources.
 Defrosting - Natural
• Natural defrosting using air is possible when the cold room temperature is greater than +4°C.
• The cooling for the cold room is stopped, and the fan continues to run.
• This method may take a long time.
• A higher room temperature will make the defrosting go faster.
• Water defrosting is another type of natural defrosting method, but this is a dangerous method.
• Water is sprayed over the cooling surface, and may easily spill into the room.
• It is an old-fashioned defrosting method and is not recommended.
 Defrosting - Electrical

• Electrical defrosting is an easy method.

• You only need to install electrical heaters in the air cooler and connect them using
electric cables.
• From an operational point of view it is an expensive method of defrosting, because it
consumes a lot of energy.
• However, on some systems it may be the only possible method of defrosting.
• Defrosting can be started manually on demand and end at a set temperature or after
specific time.
Defrosting - Hot gas

• The hot gas used is high pressure gas from the high pressure side of the refrigeration system.
• In principle, hot gas defrosting system saves energy.
• Hot gas defrosting is a relatively complicated method of defrosting and is mainly used in large systems
with more than 3 to 4 evaporators. The evaporators can operate at the same time as the air cooler which
is going to be defrosted.
• More valves are needed for hot gas defrosting, and the control system is more complex as well.
• The simplest version, a hot gas bypass from discharge to the evaporator inlet, is shown in the diagram.
This method does not save energy. A suction accumulator is needed to protect the compressor.
• A suction pressure regulator protects the compressor against high suction pressure.
What is the appropriate method in the servicing cold room?
The daily maintenance checks of the cold rooms include the following practices:
• All of the compressor used in the modular cold rooms should be checked for the oil leakage.
• The Freon levels of the refrigerated room should be checked as well.
• The evaporator of the cold room should be check for ice formation.
• The secondary system’s head pressure should be checked every day.
• The proper cold room temperature is also something that needs to be checked on daily basis.

The daily maintenance should be done throughout the month. (Monthly)

The efficiency of the system should be checked by carrying out the following practices:
• Make sure that the fins of condenser coils are clean.
• The evaporator and the fins of the cooler should be clean as well.
• Make sure that the room is cooling perfectly when fully loaded.
• Ensure that the levels of refrigerants are maintained properly.
• The reverse blowing should be working properly as well.
• The control valves should function efficiently.
• The function of defrosting should work properly because defrosting is imperative to the efficiency of the room.
• The evaporators should be clean and functioning efficiently to make sure that the temperature is maintained.
• The casing of the evaporator should be cleaned along with the blower fans.
• The temperature of the colds room should be calibrated.
• To make sure there is no malfunctioning, perform a system functional test.