The influence of stacking mode and air supply power on cooling effect of cold storage

Abstract

Objective: Reasonable planning of the stacking of goods in the mobile cold storage and reasonable design of the air supply power of the fan, to reduce cold storage energy consumption and improve economic efficiency. Methods: A three-dimensional physical model and k-ε mathematical model of a certain cold storage were established, and the temperature field inside the cold storage under different stacking methods of goods and different air supply power were simulated using Fluent software. Results: The research results showed that under the same working conditions, the average storage temperature of goods horizontally was 2.014 ℃, and the average storage temperature of goods vertically was 2.006 ℃, all meet the design requirements. The goods can be stacked horizontally to accommodate 162 and vertically to accommodate 180. Vertical stacking maximizes space utilization. At different airflow powers, after running for 15 minutes, the average cold storage temperature was 2.006 ℃ at 100% power; The average cold storage temperature was 2.129 ℃ at 70% power; The average cold storage temperature was 2.410 ℃ at 50% power. The cold storage temperature met the design requirements for all three different fan power scenarios. The actual selected power was too high, and 50% power was sufficient to meet the design requirements for full-load operation of the cold storage. Conclusion: Choosing the vertical stacking method can improve the space utilization rate of cold storage. According to the simulation results, the selection of cooler type can reduce the energy consumption, reduce the operating cost and improve the economic benefit.

Keywords

• mobile cold storage
• finite element analysis
• refrigeration system
• cold air blower
• temperature field