Experiment and theoretical analysis of using natural cold source and cold storage in food refrigerated display cabinet

Abstract

This work attempts to introduce natural cold source to solve the prominent problem of high energy consumption of food refrigerated display cabinets. The characteristics of natural cold source food refrigerated display cabinet was systematically studied with a typical climate type of city. The theory and experimental methods were employed to analyze its operating strategy and refrigeration performance. Five working modes of the system are recommended according to the outdoor temperature. Besides, the studies proposed operational strategies for natural cold source refrigerated display cabinet systems concerning four typical days and throughout year, followed by an analysis of their energy-saving potential. The results of this study reveal that the natural cold source food refrigerated display cabinet could satisfy the cold storage requirement of food and has good energy saving ability. Compared with the traditional refrigeration system, the energy is saved by 25.46 %, 14.50 %, 15.65 %, 41.95 % on four typical days for natural cold source food refrigerated display cabinet, and save energy consumption by 21.08 % throughout the year. This study can provide a technical support for the energy-saving operation of food refrigerated display cabinets.