A Close-up Look at Industrial Refrigeration
ACHR News, April 11, 2016. Image credit: www.emsd.gov.hk
The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) 2016 Industrial Refrigeration Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, treated 1,500 attendees to four days of technical information, workshops, panels, and forums covering the past, present, and future of refrigeration. A total of 148 exhibitors showed off their latest advances in all types of industrial refrigeration at the event. Here are a few of the highlights.
AZANE INC.
Azane Inc. offered its low-charge, high-efficiency ammonia chillers and low-charge ammonia condensing units for freezer applications. Both the Azanechiller and Azanefreezer feature high-efficiency screw compressors, air-cooled condensers, floating head pressure control, integrated gas detection, and fully automatic oil recovery. Programmable logic controllers allow for fully unattended operation. According to Azane, the low-charge chillers use less than 2 pounds of ammonia per ton of refrigeration (TR) while the freezers typically use 5 pounds per TR.
BITZER US INC.
Bitzer US Inc. offered the SL Series of semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors for subcritical CO2 applications. The SL Series features a centrifugal lubrication system by dynamic disc, a wear-resistant drive gear with multi-layer bearings, a motor adapted for saturated discharge temperatures up to 59°F, and a housing with high-strength pressure (high-pressure side up to 770 psig and low-pressure side up to 440 psig). The SL Series, in combination with Bitzer’s ECOLINE Series, also offers universal application ranges for CO2/R-134a cascade hybrid systems.
CENTURY REFRIGERATION
Century Refrigeration unveiled the Centinel intelligent defrost control system. The electronically operated evaporator controller is designed to save energy in refrigeration systems by precisely controlling superheat and fans, reducing compressor run time and implementing demand defrosts. The Centinel consists of a microprocessor-driven controller, four temperature sensors, and a suction transducer. According to Century Refrigeration, it replaces the multiple pieces of a traditional defrost control system, including the room thermostat, defrost time clock, and defrost-termination/fan-delay thermostat. The Centinel’s self-learning algorithm allows it to customize itself to each individual evaporator.