Energy Saving In Commercial Refrigeration Employing Electronic Valves

Energy saving will be one of the main objectives to be achieved in the future. The directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the energy performance of buildings gave a big impulse in promoting the improvement of the buildings energy performance within the EU, taking into account outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness. In this context, we are focussing part of our research on the study of technical solutions aimed at save energy consumptions in HVAC&R applications. In particular, the use of electronic valves as alternative to thermostatic expansion valves in the display cabinets of supermarkets is investigated. This paper reports the results of a research program performed in a supermarket in Central Italy started in November 2004. The energy consumptions of the refrigeration system with the two technologies were compared along a year by switching every 24 hours from one technology to the other. The conclusive results of this research shows the employment of the electronic valve can give a mean energy saving between 20% to 35% with respect to the thermostatic valve, depending on the climate conditions.