Intro

Every day, millions of cases of product are delivered to restaurants, hospitals, universities, and other food destinations. Moving these food items safely and efficiently requires a long chain of highly coordinated trading partners. Distribution centers, acting as intermediaries between producers and end-operators, require special conditions for the effective temperature control.

Distribution centers apply food safety best practices throughout their operations – from truck to warehouse to delivery – to ensure food safety and mitigate quality risks.

The request

The end-user – a market leader in retail logistics since early ’90s –   needed to build a new plant for its logistic network that could serve the highly dynamic processes of retail logistics in the Lazio region, in Italy. Objective of the project: to meet the increasingly specific needs of the producers and end-operators world, while combining energy saving and environmental protection.

The new warehouse, 9.500 m2, will supply restaurants, hotels bar and all type of activities in the catering and hospitality. Thanks to the size of the entire structure, the new warehouse can handle all product categories: dry, fresh, ultra-fresh, and frozen. In the structure there are also laboratories for processing meat as well rooms entirely dedicated to fish processes, and thermally insulated compartments at different temperatures.

The solution

The requirement, above all, was to call upon competent professionals and achieve a reliable and durable technical solution that provided a good return on investment. The coordination of this project was carried out by an important Italian partner of Tecnofreddo that is specialized in consultancy, installation, and maintenance of industrial refrigeration plants.  Thanks to a real synergy between these two companies and their technical skills, the solution put forward has met end-user requirements.

Tecnofreddo has designed a tailor-made integrated R744/R448a air-condensed cascade unit. These kind of refrigeration systems are designed to provide high efficiency cooling conditions to those processes characterized by high temperature differences.

The CASCADE/CKCAD-KMC line includes a R744/R448a air-cooled cascade compressor rack. The unit is designed for outdoor installation and has two independent refrigeration circuits, two compressors connected in parallel both on the low side (R744) and on high side (R448a). The unit is for cold rooms @-25°C, and these are cooled by the CO2 in direct expansion. The R448a part is meant to condensate the CO2 and to cool cold rooms at 0°C.

Description of the integrated system

  • CO2 piston compressors n°4
  • R448a n°4 piston compressors
  • Total CO2 cooling capacity: 320 kW @ -35°C
  • External air temperature 35°C
  • Air condenser: Al-Cu coil
  • EC Axial fans
  • Electrical panel in IP44 metal case
  • Integral management of the refrigeration unit via Siemens S7/1200 industrial PLC with 10″ touchscreen monitor and dedicated software.
  • L x W x H: 8950 x 2330 x 2460 mm

Conclusion

The use of two fluids R744/R448a and their low environmental impact allowed the end-user to go for a long-lasting solution. The system proposed has allowed to obtain great efficiencies which translate into lower energy costs. The integrated tailor-made solution has additionally allowed space and cost reduction if compared it with two separate systems. Tecnofreddo integrated system is also equipped with two independent refrigeration circuits to ensure unit operation even during maintenance phases.

The customer’s needs which initially included a vision, a mission, and objectives, have been thus perfectly achieved by Tecnofreddo, while always guaranteeing its high level of customization, high quality, and the reliability of its products.