Energy costs are high in most European countries, especially in Germany, whereas sales margins in food retailing are low. To reduce the operating cost, AHT Cooling Systems (AHT) from Austria was approached by market-leading grocery chains to supply a self-contained display cabinet which has a much higher level of efficiency than the existing cabinets. According to studies, refrigeration in standard grocery stores contribute to 55% to the use of primary energy.
AHT teamed up with Secop (Danfoss Compressors at that time) as one of their main compressor suppliers to work on a cabinet according to the specifications from the commercial end-users.
To reduce energy consumption of the refrigeration cycle, Secop proposed to use an electronically controlled SLV compressor which is able to adjust its rotating speed and therefore the cooling capacity delivered. Secop’s experiences with variable speed compressors have shown potentials to reduce the energy consumption by up to 40% compared to a conventional compressor with a synchronous motor and fixed speed/cooling capacity running on/off.
Intensive tests in labs and in the field have shown solid savings on energy consumptions. The graphic in the image below shows the effect on cabinet efficiency using a variable speed compressor but same refrigerant, which was observed to be 30% less consumption compared to the identical system with a fixed speed (on/off) compressor. The change towards R290 (propane) improved the efficiency by additional 9%.
Case Story AHT Cooling System (SLV Compressors)
Product photo by courtesy of AHT Cooling Systems
Other case stories for Secop´s application areas can be found here
About AHT Cooling Systems (AHT)
AHT is an Austrian company, active in both branches of industrial refrigeration and deep freezing, while its main areas of business are fridges and deep freezers for supermarkets, ice cream freezers and bottle coolers.The area of refrigeration and deep freezers for supermarkets basically involves plug-in refrigeration and freezer systems. AHT is among the leading global manufacturers in this sector. The company is based in the region of Styria in the middle of Austria. Beside its main plant in the city of Rottenmann, AHT runs subsidiaries in the UK, the United States of America, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil.
