Bitzer, Frost-trol Highlight Digital Products

As part of the trend toward digitalization of cooling in the food retail sector, manufacturers Bitzer and Fros-trol both showcased digital products at the EuroShop trade show last month in Dusseldorf, Germany.

German manufacturer Bitzer featured its Bitzer Digital Network (BDN), a cloud-based online platformthat offers end users digital services for refrigeration and air conditioning technology.  It is “precisely tailored to the requirements of large supermarket chains with integrated systems,” said Bitzer in a statement. “Using the BDN, they can monitor refrigeration systems as a whole as well as individual components. This makes it much easier and faster to find errors.”For example, BDN provides “comprehensive compressor information” and “immediate help with troubleshooting” based on real-time data.

A new feature, said Bitzer, is the integration of the BDN in “a large retail platform,” whose provider “has developed the cloud specifically for the retail industry. The aim is to exploit the full potential of the Internet of Things in retail and avoid silo solutions.”

 Smart cabinets

Also at EuroShop, Spanish manufacturer Frost-trol Introduced its FSC (Frost Smart Cabinet) technology, which allows end users to “collect data in time, analyze them and make decisions based on them.”

The FSC system engages in a series of thermodynamic and psychometric calculations that allow the cabinet “to adjust its energy performance to any environment, resulting in an improvement in energy efficiency” as well as “preventative and predictive maintenance of cabinets.”

Frost-trol also said it has worked closely with Carel to develop a flexible refrigerated case that combines waterloop condensation with propane (R290) refrigerant.  This system has an evaporator designed for refrigerant charge requirements, as well as the implementation of BDLC compressors, electronic valves, and the electronic management of Carel’s Heos platform.

In addition, Frost-trol has worked on the development of a new generation of plug-in cabinets operating with propane, called Ammer and Konstanz. These cabinets have “an avant-garde design” to maximize the visibility of the exposed foods.