2023-04-20 18:24:57
Refrigeration and air conditioning equipment with low energy efficiency or with a lack of preventive maintenance, contributes to the increase in expenses with electricity.
The food trade sector is the second largest consumer of electricity due to the refrigeration system, which runs 24 hours a day to preserve food. The air conditioning of the environment for the comfort of customers also contributes to the increase in consumption, as it generally has a large capacity. Source: Ecom Energia website.
In order to “produce cold” with less energy consumption, it is necessary to invest in efficient equipment. According to the benchmarking of electricity consumption, carried out by Fatec Botucatu, “in Brazil in 2011 there were approximately 182 thousand establishments in the food sector. They are small food businesses, which lack the means to invest in energy efficiency in their businesses”.
For small establishments, it remains to invest in preventive maintenance to reduce the expense of the electricity bill.
Vagner Possani, professor of the SERAE cold room course, agrees that the biggest expense with the electric bill in commercial and industrial environments such as: supermarkets, restaurants, butchers and food industries is with the refrigeration system.
“The biggest consumers of electricity in stores and food industries are the refrigeration equipment used to preserve perishable products and the air conditioning equipment for the comfort of customers”, says the professor.
According to Sidney dos Santos Bento: “Cooling equipment with dirty heat exchangers or with a small deficiency of refrigerant fluid apparently works well, however, consumes a lot of electricity compared to equipment with well-executed periodic maintenance.”
ABRAVA – Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating, presented a report with maintenance expenses, capital cost and electricity.
- Maintenance 10%
- Capital cost 15%
- Electricity 75%
Analyzing these expenses, one can see the importance of keeping the refrigeration systems operating with maximum energy efficiency, that is, producing “cold” with less electricity consumption.
Marilon Barbosa, SERAE’s refrigeration professor says: “Maintenance in itself does not bring energy savings, it just avoids greater consumption than has already been anticipated. The equipment will consume the energy to do the job it was made for.”
“Reviewing the components and electrical connections ensures that there is no energy leakage, cleaning ensures thermal exchanges and therefore, the motor compressor will not stay on longer than necessary. Preventive maintenance will avoid wasting energy.”, concluded the professor.
Wagner Marins, instructor of the SERAE Split course, agrees with Marilon: “Equipment with up-to-date maintenance, clean, with terminals and electrical contacts in good condition provide work within the established design parameters, avoiding waste of electrical energy.”
“A machine with a dirty condensing unit or with a low-speed condenser fan will cause the pressure in the discharge line to rise, thus increasing work and consequently the consumption of electricity.”, says Wagner Marins
A small market with a system with a capacity of 30,000kcal/h of refrigerated products and 15,000kcal/h of frozen products working balanced in good thermodynamic conditions consumes an average of 20,500kw per month, which costs approximately R$ 15,450.00 in electricity.
This system working with values of superheating and sub-cooling outside the specified range, that is, unfavorable thermodynamic conditions, can reach up to 25% loss in performance, which will cost the user an increase of R$ 3,850.00 in the electricity bill, in addition to the risk of compressor breakdown.
Vagner Possani reports that well-executed preventive maintenance goes far beyond cleaning the heat exchangers: “In preventive maintenance, important points of the system must be observed, such as measuring superheating and sub-cooling so that the equipment operates at its maximum performance, generating less electricity consumption and compressor failures, making the service life reach its highest value.”
Sidney dos Santos Bento states that for the perfect execution of preventive maintenance, the technician must be trained: “It is important that refrigeration technicians participate in qualification courses and are aware of good practices in the maintenance of these systems”
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