The Future of Cold

Store Equipment & Design, Jan, 2000 by Marc Sandofsky

Recently, a group of Emerson Electric Companies joined forces to host The Future of Cold, a series of conferences on supermarket refrigeration issues for the coming millennium. The hosting companies were Copeland Corp., Sidney, Ohio; Computer Process Controls (CPC), Kennesaw, Ga.; and Alco Controls, St. Louis.

In discussing control system interoperability, John Wallace, product manager at CPC and chairman of the Lonworks Refrigeration Committee, pointed out that there remain a number of impediments to wide-spread expansion of interoperable systems. Among those are:

* Determining who will tie together the various components of the systems and who will service them after wards.

* Agreeing on an independent third party to set interoperability standards.

* Overcoming the fact that there may be very little cost savings from interoperability at first, and whatever savings there are may be offset by increased costs in other areas.

* Coming up with profiles for each system component. So far there have been very few refrigeration profiles completed.

Other topics covered at The Future of Cold include:

* Food safety. Dan Redditt, a regional food specialist for the Food and Drug Administration in Atlanta pointed out that contrary to popular belief, the FDA does not regulate supermarkets. Rather, states and local governments establish regulations, usually based on FDA recommendations, but local governments are often significantly tougher.

Redditt noted that the FDA has become increasingly concerned with maintaining maximum product temperatures at 41[degrees]F instead of the old 45[degrees]F, as information continues to accumulate about the benefits of lower temperatures. The FDA is also recommending that cleaning intervals for preparation rooms be based on space temperature. For instance, a space kept at 41[degrees]F should be cleaned every 24 hours, while a 55[degrees]F room should be cleaned every four hours.

* Environmental concerns. Speaking on environmental issues confronting supermarket operators in the new millennium, Earl Muir, Copeland's senior vice president of global technology and quality, pointed out that existing refrigerant laws are geared toward ozone depletion rather than global warming, even though global warming has become the more critical of the two issues.

Muir said 50 percent of the new U.S. cooling applications are currently using HFCs, and predicted that R-134a, R-404a and R-507 would become the refrigerants of choice in the future for refrigeration applications. He sees potential problems ahead over the issue of supermarket leak rates, noting that the current EPA limit is 35 percent, while the proposed limits are 15 percent for equipment manufactured after 1992 and 10 percent for new equipment.

* Valves and regulators. Buzz Schaeffer, director of applications at Alco, said that while electronic valves are available today for liquid controls and suction/evaporator controls, they also will soon be available for solenoids, head pressure controls and diverting valves for heat reclaim, split condensers and gas defrost. Schaeffer pointed out that stepper motor liquid controls have become one of the most popular electronic valves on the market today as they offer wide capacity ranges and very fine capacity control, and cost roughly the same as other new electronic valves.

According to Schaeffer, the electronic stepper regulator (ESR) has been designed to provide more consistent product temperatures, greater system flexibility, increased system efficiency and superior diagnostics and data acquisition. Schaeffer said that more than 8,000 Alco ESRs have compiled over 60 million operating hours in supermarkets since 1997 with a failure rate of less than 0.15 percent. When combined with CPC's ESR board and an Einstein rack controller, the ESR provides a low-cost, high-performance alternative to mechanical suction regulators.

* Rotary compressors. Noting the increasing impact of rotary compressors in supermarkets, Copeland marketing manager Kurt Gobreski said they account for some 20 percent of today's sales to supermarkets. Copeland expects that percentage to increase over time as the efficiencies of the Glacier Scrolls are improved to match semi-hermetics.

To meet the increased demand for self-contained cases brought on by merchandiser demands for increased flexibility in stores, Copeland has worked hard to fill out its SystemPro line, now available in sizes from 1/8 to 5 HP. In 2001, Copeland will release a compressor protection module for discus and large Glacier compressors that will feature a single phasing alarm to protect against welded contractors, and the ability to provide an alarm history for warranty analysis. Diagnostics will be added at a later date.

Jim Paoloemelio, OEM sales account manager of Copeland's A/C Division, said the company will be releasing a modulated scroll with two steps of capacity at 65 percent and 100 percent. According to Paoloemelio, being able to modulate capacities will provide superior efficiency, while reducing starts and stops will increase reliability. The modulating scrolls will be available in single- and three-phase, in sizes of 2 to 5 HP.