Experimental investigation on the condensing heat recovery system in a dual-temperature open display cabinet

Abstract

Proper utilization of condensing heat could significantly reduce the carbon footprints of existing energy systems. In this study, we extend the territory of condensing heat recovery to a brand new application, i.e. a dual-temperature open display cabinet to preserve heated and refrigerated products simultaneously. The experimental results in our prototype system prove the feasibility of condensing heat recovery, in which the power consumption is reduced from the baseline 16.40 kW•h•24h −1 to 10.77 kW•h•24h −1 (34.44%) at 25°C ambient temperature. The key feature to energy-saving is a proper match between the condensing fan flowrate and the ambient temperature, since loads of heated and refrigerated compartments vary with the ambient temperature. The optimum fan flowrate in terms of energy consumption decreases with the decrease of the ambient temperature, while both the evaporating temperature and refrigerated products temperature can be maintained constantly. With the properly matched operating parameters, each dual-temperature open display cabinet with the condensing heat recovery technology could contribute to a reduction of 188.57 kg CO 2 each year in China.