Experimental Study on the Influences of Air Flow in an Integral Hydrocarbon Display Cabinet to its Temperature and Energy Performances

This paper presents results on temperature energy performance tests of an integral refrigerated hydrocarbon (HC) display cabinet for retail food applications. Heat from the condensing unit of the cabinet is rejected to both ambient air and water/glycol mixture flowing in a closed water circuit. Air flow in the cabinet loaded with M-packages as test products was studied in order to analyze effects of air flow rate in the cabinet to its temperature and energy performances. The product and air temperatures as well as energy consumption of the cabinet were measured. The tests were conducted in a test chamber at climate class 3. It was found that the HC display cabinet with integral condensing unit was found to provide excellent energy performance with an Energy Efficiency Index below the requirement to qualify for enhanced capital allowances. The refrigeration system of the cabinet could also achieve a COP of 3.15. The study also found that higher air flow rate in the cabinet could make the product temperatures a little bit better, but the energy consumption increased approximately 7% when air flow rate was increased from 1200 m³ h⁻¹ to 1800 m³ h⁻¹. Air flow distribution in the cabinet was necessary to be optimized in order to comply with M0 classification cabinet.