There still remains no ‘silver bullet’ within the refrigeration industry speakers told delegates at the Greening of Refrigeration seminar hosted by fan manufacturer ebm-papst.

The seminar event that took place at the company’s Chelmsford headquarters on 22 October bought together a variety of expert speakers, which included Paul Griffiths of Weatherite Manufacturing, Roger Smith of A-Gas, Brendad O’Reilly of Blygold and Paul Alway of Marks & Spencer and James Cooper and Geoff Lockwood of ebm-papst.

Despite there being no ‘silver bullet’, all the speakers were in broad agreement that there are plenty of solutions for organisations looking for more efficient refrigeration systems until this ‘silver bullet’ arrives on the market.

Paul Alway, manager of Refrigeration Specification and Research and Development at Marks & Spencer, explained that many organisations simply don’t have the budget to rip out their refrigerator systems, so instead chose to focus on more cost-effective and simple initiatives and systems that control energy consumption more effectively.

Mr Alway mentioned that taking a new look at old technology can often work for many organisations looking to improve the performance of their refrigerator systems, while also reviewing ways to provide simple solutions to common problems, such as improving condenser efficiency.

James Cooper, product manager at ebm-papst, discussed a recent AxiTop trial which showed how the condenser, described as a “very simple installation”, achieved a reduction in noise and energy consumption while achieving the same air performance.

Geoff Lockwood, technical director at ebm-papst, highlighted the FlowGrid system, which was essentially “a simple piece of plastic” yet was able to reduce low frequency noise while not affecting a fan’s performance in a refrigeration system.

Brendan O’Reilly, sales director at Blygold UK, explained that another quick and simple solution for organisations looking to improve their system’s performance should be coatings, with this extending the lifespan of the system and leading to a reduction in energy use. Through coatings, O’Reilly stated that one telecommunications organisation had been able to payback the costs through savings on energy bills in less than six months.

Other speakers chose to focus more specifically on the challenges faced by the refrigeration industry. Paul Griffiths, technical director at Weatherite Manufacturing, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of hydrocarbon refrigerator systems and the challenges they faced in designing these systems and getting to grips with the guidelines and legislation.

Despite these challenges and concerns over the flammability of the systems, Mr Griffiths believed that hydrocarbon refrigerators would be more widely used in the future, as part of a drive towards systems that have low global warming potential.

The drive to meet new environment targets through refrigeration was another common theme throughout the seminar, with Paul Alway praising the industry for continuing to responding quickly and positively to continuous change through new legislation.

Roger Smith, project manager of Refrigerants at A-Gas, discussed the challenges faced by industry when seeking a replacement for the R404A. Again he argued that there was no ‘silver bullet’ for industry but stated that companies need to be in a position to make informed judgements on refrigeration systems based on their specific circumstances.

This view was supported by Mr Alway who emphasised the importance of testing refrigerator systems thoroughly beforehand to work out the issues and limitations of a system before firmly committing.

www.ebmpapst.co.uk