Energy storage industrial refrigeration

What is cold thermal energy storage (CTEs)?

Cold thermal energy storage (CTES) technology has received increased interest for the past two decades from researchers and stakeholders in the refrigeration sector asa measure to reduce the peaks in the cooling load that occurs in many refrigeration systems, e.g. in food processing plants and air-conditioning systems.

What is the purpose of a refrigeration storage system?

The main purpose of the storage is to provide the peak cooling demand during the cooling down of new products when they are placed in the cooler (pull-down load) so that the refrigeration system can be sized for the average refrigeration load rather than the peak load.

Do refrigeration systems save energy in the food industry?

In this regard, most of the food processes require highly consuming refrigeration systems in order to preserve the quality and properties of products. Therefore, it is crucial to maximize the efficiency of such refrigeration systems to save energy in the food industry.

Why is data collected in industrial refrigeration systems important?

The data collected in the industrial refrigeration systems can become a key asset in order to develop novel methodologies to achieve an efficient energy management. Moreover, most of the state of the art load management techniques are based on forecasting models [ ].

What are the benefits of integrating CTEs into commercial refrigeration systems?

Key benefits of integrating CTES into commercial refrigeration systems are the possibility to shift energy purchases to low-cost periods by using the storage to achieve peak shaving of the refrigeration demand. Consequently, the power consumption stabilisation through the day will be achieved .

How can cold storage improve the reliability of a refrigeration system?

Last but not least, the cold storage can increase the system reliability by supplying the cooling capacity under different unforeseen conditions such as a power blackout situation or component failure in the refrigeration system. There are three strategies to operate a CTES that is integrated into a refrigeration system.