Flow Field Analysis and Defrosting Cycle Optimization in a Large-scale Industrial Cold- storage Facility

Enhai Liu¹, Tingting Yu¹, Shengyong Liu^2, and Hongwei Liu¹

¹School of Energy and Building Environment Engineering, Henan University of Urban Construction, Pingdingshan, China

²Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy of Ministry of Agriculture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China

Cite this paper:
Enhai Liu, Tingting Yu, Shengyong Liu and Hongwei Liu. Flow Field Analysis and Defrosting Cycle Optimization in a Large-scale Industrial Cold- storage Facility. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2014; 2(9):567-574. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-2-9-7

Abstract

We report a joint theoretical and experiment analysis of an industrial cold-storage unit for a large-scale poultry processing enterprise in the Central Plains Economic Zone of China. The flow field inside the unit was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics, which identified an optimum forced air supply of 2.05 m s^-1. The defrosting cycle was then optimized experimentally, resulting in an improved defrosting method and a monthly saving of 5,530 RMB in electricity costs. Furthermore, we achieved a reduction in the temperature variation of 1.82% and in the coefficient of performance variation of 1.89%. The refrigerating capacity and electricity costs per unit of production were decreased by 8.30% and 10.20%, respectively.

Keywords:
cold storage numerical simulation flow-field characteristics defrosting cycle optimization

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