Cold room design on the back burner
The Insight
Cold rooms play an integral role across many industries, from food production, transportation and storage, to pharmacy, manufacturing, and scientific research and development. Most recently, they are being used to aid in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Whilst cold storage is widely used and plays such an important role in today’s society, there have been very few changes to the way cold rooms have been designed over the past few decades. Unlike the air conditioning industry which has seen significant improvements in energy efficiency standards through multiple iterations of the NCC, cold rooms have had almost no advancements in terms of technology or energy efficiency.
Recently, AIRAH introduced a manual on Energy Efficiency of Cold Rooms to help guide designers. Useful as this may be, there is no legislative obligation for cold room design.
Nevertheless, energy efficiency is only one component of good cold room design.
The Impact
Cold rooms maintain the environmental conditions necessary for the storage of various food, pharmaceutical and industrial products. They need to be specially designed to suit their application with consideration of external environmental and operational factors.
Capital cost inhibits good cold room design. Refrigeration systems can operate over varying ambient conditions to maintain the internal cold room temperature and humidity, so initial cost is often prioritised over long-term usage and operating costs. An incorrectly designed cold room can lead to significant property damage, product spoilage, and high energy costs.
As with all design, it’s important to consider the specific application.
For cold room design, this involves utilising the available technologies and analysing the life-of-the-system. Designers must consult with the owners and operators to obtain a detailed understanding of how the cold room is to be used. Consider what is being stored and in what quantities, how frequently it will be accessed and how it will be accessed, and how often it will be emptied and cleaned. Amongst many other situational considerations, where will the cold room be located and will it require remote monitoring?
If refrigeration systems are not designed, installed and commissioned to the operational conditions that are specific to their application, they will fail to meet requirements.