Heatcraft and ebm-papst came together to complete an innovative upgrade at IGA which has been completed in time for the peak Christmas rush period.
The installation of new condensers with AxiTop EC fans from ebm-papst proved to be a great success for two supermarket owners as well as the residences nearby.
Dave Redden, principal at refrigeration consultancy Refrigeration Innovations, was faced with the challenge of upgrading and extending two Victorian IGA supermarkets with condenser sets located close to local residences and a caravan park.
Keeping tough noise requirements as well as the lifecycle cost of new capital equipment in mind, Redden not only wanted to reduce noise emissions but also boost energy efficiency to reduce his clients’ power bill, thereby turning this mandatory upgrade into a financial win for the store owners.
The brief
Refrigeration Innovations were asked to increase the store trading area footprint by almost double, and to replace the existing refrigeration units, which were very old and had been added on gradually over time. The project included the installation of an all-new refrigeration system consisting of display cases, condensers, cool room and plant equipment.
Installers MB Refrigeration carried out the upgrade over a 16-week period, mainly while the store was trading, with a few works carried out after hours.
“The condensers fitted with the AxiTop passed with flying colours, proving not only superb performances at low noise levels, but also returning excellent energy savings, through linking the speed drives to a floating condenser pressure strategy,” Redden said.
The addition of the AxiTop diffusers decreased the power usage of the already efficient EC fans by another eight per cent. The motor replacement alone will generate savings of around $116 a year per motor. IGA Sam Remo Store owner Liam Keating said the supermarket is saving $6,000 per month on power bills.
Refrigeration
Heatcraft Australia collaborated with Refrigeration Innovations, MB Refrigeration and Emerson Climate Technologies to design a unique Kirby Refrigeration Rack System that met all of the clients expectations.
In fact the solution has pioneered new ground in the development of parallel C02/HFC Combo Systems at Heatcraft Australia and the installation work completed by MB Refrigeration has set a new course for innovative C02 refrigeration technology in supermarket refurbishments.
In order to deliver the project in time for Christmas, it was decided that an all in one Hybrid Combo Rack option would enable contractors, MB Refrigeration to bring the first stage – meat, deli and dairy areas – on line first. As the low temperature section was the last stage the C02 was 'system ready' for line connection. The move to C02 was a conscious decision by the store owners to be good environmental citizens.
To reduce noise the Kirby Rack was developed with compressor soundshells on the R134a medium temperature Copeland Stream Compressors.
Incorporating VSD drive technology benefitted energy consumption and store heating was made available by the waste heat from the refrigeration system by utilising heat reclaim coils.
The new system is a big improvement on the existing plant which included a mixture of unitary equipment, sold old open drive compressors and semi-hermetic packaged units spread across the roof area on a variety of different refrigerants.
IGA store owner Matt Synan said a 'total store' approach was taken with this upgrade.
“We looked at every aspect of the project to see where we could make energy efficiency gains, and where possible, took them on board,” he said. “This included the use of variable speed drives, a heat reclaim system, using waste heat off the refrigeration to heat the store and state of the art energy efficient refrigeration units.”
The Solurion
Kirby NxGen Parallel Rack System
(Hybrid CO2 / R134a Combo
system), CO2 [R744] (L/T - Freezers)