Over 600 professionals in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry gathered in London on 28 September 2011 for the 2011 RAC Cooling Industry Awards. Winning products and initiatives include a free cooling hydrocarbon chiller, as well as a supermarket store featuring hydrocarbon/CO2 refrigeration technology.
"The 2011 Awards are a fantastic snapshot of an industry taking its environmental responsibilities seriously and exercising its collective imagination to reduce energy and carbon", commented Andrew Gaved, Editor of RAC, as he congratulated the finalists.
R290/R744 Marks & Spencer supermarket named “Retail Project of the Year“
British retailer Marks & Spencer together with Oaksmere were the winners in the “Retail Project of the Year” category. Opened in April 2011, the Eccleshall Road store was the first of the ‘sustainable learning’ Marks & Spencer retail outlets to open its door to the public. It uses natural refrigerants in both fridges and air conditioning. The system uses R290 as the primary refrigerant, cooling the medium temperature pumped CO2 system, which supplies the MT display cases. The LT display cases are cooled by a subcritical CO2 system that condenses via the pumped CO2 MT circuit, using a plate heat exchanger. The refrigeration system’s heat of rejection is supplied to R290 heat pump systems, which then provide all the store heating and domestic hot water requirements. A small requirement for space cooling is also provided by the heat pump systems. The system COP is calculated at 4.4 across the season. Marks & Spencer is expected to open the fourth store that uses hydrocarbon/CO2 refrigeration technology close to the 2012 Olympic Park this autumn.
Hydrocarbon chiller is “Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year”
Arctic Circle’s Fjord free-cooling hydrocarbon chiller was named the winner in the “Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year” award category, while it was also highly commended in the “Air Conditioning Product of the Year” category. It uses free cooling, together with efficient hydrocarbon refrigerant, variable volume ratio and variable speed drive compression, EC fans and precision controlled evaporators. It addresses free cooling in a new way, arranging the dry cooler coil and the condenser coil in separate V-banks so that their fans are separate. This allows ambient cooling to be maximised at the first stage of cooling, independently of the condenser operation. Stepless control of mechanical cooling down to 12.5 per cent allows cooling duty to be precisely matched to the cooling load. The manufacturer affirms a 75 per cent energy saving over a conventional chiller, or a 3.4 MW/h saving per year from a 250 kW chiller. The chiller’s Genesis compressors incorporate patented valve plates which claim 10 per cent higher COPs than conventional models. Arctic Circle working together with retailer John Lewis Partnership (owner of Waitrose) were also among the finalists for the “Retail Project of the Year” award for a project under which Waitrose’s Marlborough store debuted Arctic Circle’s Fjord chiller.
Award finalists with hydrocarbons
Although not named winners, several other products and projects involving hydrocarbon were among the award finalists:
R290/R744 Marks & Spencer supermarket named “Retail Project of the Year“
British retailer Marks & Spencer together with Oaksmere were the winners in the “Retail Project of the Year” category. Opened in April 2011, the Eccleshall Road store was the first of the ‘sustainable learning’ Marks & Spencer retail outlets to open its door to the public. It uses natural refrigerants in both fridges and air conditioning. The system uses R290 as the primary refrigerant, cooling the medium temperature pumped CO2 system, which supplies the MT display cases. The LT display cases are cooled by a subcritical CO2 system that condenses via the pumped CO2 MT circuit, using a plate heat exchanger. The refrigeration system’s heat of rejection is supplied to R290 heat pump systems, which then provide all the store heating and domestic hot water requirements. A small requirement for space cooling is also provided by the heat pump systems. The system COP is calculated at 4.4 across the season. Marks & Spencer is expected to open the fourth store that uses hydrocarbon/CO2 refrigeration technology close to the 2012 Olympic Park this autumn.
Hydrocarbon chiller is “Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year”
Arctic Circle’s Fjord free-cooling hydrocarbon chiller was named the winner in the “Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year” award category, while it was also highly commended in the “Air Conditioning Product of the Year” category. It uses free cooling, together with efficient hydrocarbon refrigerant, variable volume ratio and variable speed drive compression, EC fans and precision controlled evaporators. It addresses free cooling in a new way, arranging the dry cooler coil and the condenser coil in separate V-banks so that their fans are separate. This allows ambient cooling to be maximised at the first stage of cooling, independently of the condenser operation. Stepless control of mechanical cooling down to 12.5 per cent allows cooling duty to be precisely matched to the cooling load. The manufacturer affirms a 75 per cent energy saving over a conventional chiller, or a 3.4 MW/h saving per year from a 250 kW chiller. The chiller’s Genesis compressors incorporate patented valve plates which claim 10 per cent higher COPs than conventional models. Arctic Circle working together with retailer John Lewis Partnership (owner of Waitrose) were also among the finalists for the “Retail Project of the Year” award for a project under which Waitrose’s Marlborough store debuted Arctic Circle’s Fjord chiller.
Award finalists with hydrocarbons
Although not named winners, several other products and projects involving hydrocarbon were among the award finalists:
- Natural Flex - Arctic Circle: Natural Flex is designed to be a flexible and modular package for natural refrigerant refrigeration packs, offering a variety of combinations of hydrocarbons, CO2 and heat recovery modules. The fully housed unit is designed for outdoor siting to minimise any safety risks.
- RJM Jet - Ryan-Jayberg: The RJM Jet is a British-built high capacity hydrocarbon integral multideck designed to run with a R1270 charge of just 850 g. With a low front height and the ability to take an 850 mm shelf, the firm says the customer-facing capacity is able to compete with remote cases. Waitrose is among the satisfied customers
- Capital Cooling: Capital Cooling was a finalist in the ‘RAC Contractor of the Year’ category for its diverse business and for being instrumental in developing hydrocarbon multidecks. The company also recently won Best Green SME at the Scottish Green Awards.
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Oct 04, 2011, 09:45
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