Investigation of Cooling Systems Faults, Control and Management Models

Abstract

With the rapid increase in population in the world, people's demands for chilled and frozen foods are also increasing. The healthy and energy efficient cold storage of foods has become an important issue. In this context, studies on the efficiency and performance of energy management models including automatic control techniques on cooling systems have been investigated in recent years. The purpose of this study is to give information about faults, traceable energy management models and control systems in the perspective of cooling systems.
 Maintenance of cooling systems, malfunctions and their late detection cause time and cost problems. The decrease in the performance of the cooling system or the occurrence of malfunctions cause economic costs as well as energy consumption. Controlling the changes in pressure, temperature and electricity consumption values ​​in cooling systems and comparing them with standard operating conditions is one of the methods used for fault detection. Faults that may occur in cooling systems; compressor, condenser, evaporator, expansion element and fan failures, thermal failures, phase protection relay failures, under/over refrigerant charge, probe failures, night curtain electric motor failure, condenser-evaporator surface pollution. Errors and malfunctions occurring in the cycle cause the parameters under normal operating conditions and accordingly the cooling performance coefficient to change. Traceable energy management models are needed to detect faults and prevent them in a short time. With the design and implementation of these models, long-term damage to the system is prevented by reducing energy, maintenance and repair costs.
 In the design of traceable energy management models and control systems for cooling systems; set point and management, alarm notification and management, designing algorithms with precise temperature control will provide energy efficiency.

An Example of Remote Monitoring for A Refrigerated Display Cabinet: Effects on Energy Performance

“…Erdoğmuş et al [6] highlighted the challenges of maintaining refrigerating systems and the consequential issues of delayed fault detection leading to increased time and costs. The study emphasized that such circumstances contribute to elevated energy consumption and operational expenses.…”