Not so long ago most compressor rooms were operated manually. They utilized people to turn the refrigeration equipment on/off. In that case, refrigeration ran whether it was needed or not.
Recently, several plants have installed centralized automated refrigeration systems that have increased their operating efficiencies.
However, there is still a tendency to overlook the refrigeration requirements for optimum efficiencies. Plants keep growing, more production, additional storage and then get by with their existing refrigeration equipment. One of the first question’s that comes to mind. How much of the electrical bill is consumed for refrigeration in my plant? Some of you might have that answer. After speaking with engineers in Citrus, Dairy, Meat, and Cold Storage Warehousing, we found that their refrigeration electrical bill was 60% to 85% of the total bill. So where do we go from here?
Paper published with permission.
