About the authorMike Fisher has over 35 years of experience with refrigeration systems. This background includes; service, installation, equipment manufacturing, research and development, project management, consulting engineering, system design and packaged systems.
You are currently browsing the Cold Systems blog archives for June, 2009.
Owners and managers of cold storage warehouses are often faced with minimizing their operating costs. The energy used by the refrigeration system is often a major contibutor to this cost of operation. In the attempt to limit the energy used and its subsequent cost various methods can be utilized.
What impact does location have on your energy use? Obviously, if you are located in the South or Western part of the US your ambient temperatures (wet bulb or dry bulb, depending on condenser type) will be higher year round. This can limit your efforts to lower the discharge pressure.
Here is a example of a fundamental principle that may explain some of your past issues with liquid slugging. Liquid slugging occurs when a volume of liquid refrigerant suddenly flows into a compressor. This may be difficult to imagine how this occurs if the accumulator upstream of the compressor(s) is performing properly.
You might think these two subjects are not related. One produces a heating effect and the other a cooling effect. Once we disregard these differences we can find many similarities in the two systems. Both use a fluid that depends on a phase change to provide their intended function; condensation of vapor or evaporation of liquid.
If you are like a lot of other ammonia refrigeration system end-users you are trying to reduce your costs associated with energy usage. You may be exposed to a constant barrage of ideas or methods of what to do. One of the more popular concepts is: decrease the discharge pressure.
OK, now what? Someone said I need to do this and everyone talks about it, but what should I do?
