Saving energy without doors

UK: The first ever refrigerated display cabinets, incorporating a new patented airflow management system, have been installed at a new Tesco Extra eco store in Lincoln. 

Adande Refrigeration’s Aircell technology is designed for open front refrigerated multi deck cabinets, achieving impressive energy savings without the need to fit physical barriers, such as glass doors. The technology was designed and developed by Adande, with extensive prototyping, testing, validation and support from Bristol-based refrigeration consultants, ECH Engineering.

Two 2.5m refrigerated display cabinets have been installed at the store for the display of sandwiches, snacks and soft drinks. The cabinets were manufactured by Manor Concepts under a licence agreement from Adande. Manor Concepts incorporated the Aircellsystem within its Viper remote cabinet design and manufactured the prototype models to make the project a commercial reality within a demanding time schedule.

The design of the new 80,000ft² Tesco Extra eco store, which opened last Thursday, features roof lights which flood the store with natural light, a CO2 refrigeration system and a heat recovery system, which takes heat generated by the refrigeration units and re-circulates it back through the store. It is also the first Tesco Extra store which uses only LED lights.

The Aircell concept avoids the need to fit physical barriers, such as glass doors, to the front of multi deck cabinets to achieve energy savings. It segments standard retail cabinets into a series of air flow managed cells with short air curtains. Consequently, there is less pressure on the air curtain of each cell, resulting in a substantial reduction in cold air spillage from the case. The fact that less cold air spills from the cabinet also reduces cold aisle syndrome.

“We view Aircell  technology as a good fit with our environmental and customer focused objectives,” commented Tesco head of refrigeration, Joe Gomez. “It affords shoppers unhindered access to merchandise for ease of shopping. We will be monitoring the cabinets’ energy consumption, product display temperature stability and the effect on cold aisle syndrome against key performance indicators as part of this trial installation.”

Adande chairman, Nigel Bell, added: “This installation is an important breakthrough in the evolution of Aircell. It is the result of hard work and committed cooperation between Adande, ECH Engineering and Manor Concepts. It also highlights the environmental vision of the Tesco refrigeration and engineering team.”