Case Study – Energy Efficiency – Chilled Storage

To test the use of lower fan speeds in controlled atmosphere chilled stores for apples, three of the thirty nine new cold stores built at Geldermalsen Auction in the Netherlands had variable speed fans installed in a false ceiling rather than fixed speed fans installed over the door in a design incorporating a sloping roof. The better air distribution provided by the false ceiling allowed the required air circulation rate to be halved from 50 times the volume of the store circulated per hour down to 25 during initial refrigeration and from 25 to 12.5 during the storage period. The energy used by the fans was cut by 30%, this corresponds to a fan energy saving of 2.2 kWh/kg of fruit stored over a season. If the savings in refrigeration load are also taken into account the savings will be around 3 kWh/kg of fruit stored.

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