Numerical Analysis of the Impact of the Cooling Cycle Length in Vegetable Cold Stores on the Heat Exchange with Soil

Abstract

The paper includes an analysis of the impact of the cooling cycle length in vegetable cold stores on the heat exchange with soil. The scope includes an analysis of indoor and outdoor air temperature and soil temperature under the cold store and in its vicinity, specification and adaptation of the cold store-soil heat exchange model, model validation by comparison of the calculation results with experimental studies, choice of calculation variants, calculations for the used variants in non-stationary conditions, and a comparative analysis of the cold store-soil heat exchange for the used variants and of the soil temperature at selected solutions. The paper used the results of field tests in a vegetable cold store located in southern Poland. The building was used to store carrots from 1 October to 30 June. Four calculation variants were used for the in-depth study of the impact of selected factors on the heat exchange between the cold store and the soil. The calculations were made based on the elementary balances method, using WUFI®plus software. The calculation model validation was based on the field measurements of indoor and outdoor air temperature and soil temperature in 5 measurement lines at the depth of 0.05, 0.50, 1.00 and 1.50 m. The obtained validation results showed a very good correlation between the measured and calculated data and an absence of significant differences. The calculation results for the 4 calculation variants showed significant differences in the heat exchange with soil.

Keywords

• vegetable cold store
• heat exchange
• technological interruption
• soil temperature