INFORMATION BUSINESS NEED TO KNOW WHEN PLANNING, DESIGNING, CONSTRUCTING A COLD STORAGE
Construction is one of the first steps that businesses need to take to create a cold storage. However, before installing cold storage, you also need to pay attention to the information surrounding this issue to optimize the cost of building cold storage as well as ensure the operational efficiency.
I. Basic things that businesses need to grasp when constructing a cold storage
Not all companies have experiences in building and installing industrial cold storage, especially those that are new to this type of storage. Understanding that, Nam Ha Noi cold storage will provide information that businesses need to know before starting to install a cold storage.
a. What are cold storages? Structure of a cold storage
First, we need to clarify: What are cold storages?
Cold storages are warehouses with special structure and architecture to store different products and goods under suitable cold temperature and air conditions.
Because the environment in cold storages is different from the outside air, the building structure, insulation and moisture insulation of cold storages have special requirements to protect the preserved goods and structure from damage due to external climatic conditions. For those reasons, cold storage is different from other constructions.
Overview of a cold storage
Cold storage is an enclosed space for businesses to store frozen goods, consisting of 2 main parts:
Insulation system: The details and parts play a role in ensuring the temperature of the warehouse to be stable and isolated from the outside environment.
Refrigeration system: The machines and equipment adjust the warehouse temperature to the right level to preserve goods including compressors, indoor units, control cabinets, etc.
In addition, cold storage also needs some more types such as: pallets to divide goods, foam sheets, racks (depending on the type of product) ...
b. Points to concern when planning the design and construction of a cold storage
Cold storage site planning is to arrange production, processing, cold storage and auxiliary places suitable for technological lines, economic optimization in construction, operation and use of cold storage. When planning a cold storage space, the following factors should be kept in mind:
• The construction location needs to be convenient to traffic near major traffic axes, near ports, railway stations, etc.
• Cold storage capacity: different cold storages have different uses and the space is also very different. Especially with cold storages for rent and a very diverse preservation mode. Warehouse area is enough to store all products as well as ensure good circulation of goods as well as ventilation in the warehouse.
Specialized cold storages specializing in preserving a certain type of stable item, depending on the type of item with an appropriate storage temperature. Based on the product storage temperature as well as the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse to calculate the appropriate machine capacity and insulation materials.
Air humidity inside the warehouse (avoid ice condensation)
Ensure convenient and inexpensive operation
Ensure safety techniques for fire prevention and fighting, and always take into account the scalability of cold storage.
Power supply and ways to save electricity when installing industrial cold storage
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Enterprises need to pay attention to many issues before constructing a cold storage such as location, vehicles...
In the following content, Nam Ha Noi cold storage will only analyze the most prominent part that many businesses are interested in, which is POWER SUPPLY & HOW TO SAVE POWER WHEN CONSTRUCTING A COLD STORAGE without going into deep-seated issues. To know more about the remaining information, you can read the article THINGS TO CONCERN WHEN CONSTRUCTING A COLD STORAGE for more details.
II. Notes when designing and constructing a cold storage to achieve high efficiency and save electricity
After the basic points that businesses need to pay attention to above, let's find out one of the most persistent problems that many other cold storage companies are facing, that is:
How to save energy when constructing and operating a cold storage?
This problem is so prominent that there are 16.7 million results returned when searching for similar terms on Google. This proves that many businesses are interested and want to find solutions to save electricity for their cold storages. As a large cold storage rental service provider (up to 5000 tons) in Hanoi, we would like to share with you the way to save electricity applied by Nam HA Noi cold storage over the years.
1. Save electricity by choosing insulation materials
We all know that machines work by consuming energy provided by electricity, gasoline, etc. In particular, equipment used in cold storage will often consume a huge amount of electricity to cool goods. At the same time, businesses have to pay the same cost for the same large amount of electricity consumed each year.
The electrical energy saving productivity of cold storage is directly related to the ROE (Return On Equity) of the enterprise.
The first method that Nam Ha Noi cold storage wants to introduce to businesses is choosing insulation materials. Insulation materials help cold storage always have a stable temperature, thoroughly prevent air leakage, maximize waterproofing ability and reduce noise from inside and outside.
There are many types of insulation materials on the market today that businesses can choose such as: Glass wool, Mineral wool, Insulation vulcanized rubber, PE-OPP foam, XPS foam, etc. The most widely appreciated and effectively used by many businesses are PUR (polyurethane) and PIR (polyisocyanurate) insulation foam.
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PUR - a form of foam insulation material. It becomes a very good insulating foam when dry
You can learn about these materials on the Internet to understand the details. And the sincere advice from us is that you should choose insulation with high density, like PUR is about 38Kg/m3 and PIR 40Kg/m3.
Generally, the thicker the insulation of the cold storage, the better the heat retention performance. However, the cost to buy good insulation and construction will be higher than the conventional ones. So what is the moderate level that a business can accept? If your company wants to build an energy-efficient cold storage, we recommend choosing a material that is 25% thicker than the standard thickness.
For example: According to common standards, a cold storage with a temperature of about 0oC will use insulation about 100mm thick. To save electricity, businesses choose 120mm thick insulation panels for walls and ceilings, which will save the device's power consumption a lot.
2. Moisture resistant
When there is a large temperature difference between the inside and outside of the cold storage, the water in the air of the high-temperature side will condense in the insulation of the low-temperature side. Condensed water will moisten the insulation, leading the rẻigerator to operate with more capacity leading to more power consumption. To overcome the above situation, many companies have put a moisture-proof layer on the high-temperature side (outside the warehouse) to reduce the impact from the outside. However, Nam Ha Noi cold storage recommends that businesses should equip an moisture resistant layer on both sides to reduce the difference of both sides and save more power.
In addition, the thermal bridge is one of the factors that have the greatest influence on the moisture resistance of cold storage.
A heat/cold bridge is an area or object that has a higher thermal conductivity than the surrounding materials, creating a path with the lowest possible heat transfer. Simply put, the air temperature will pass through the cold storage wall or roof area where the R-value is lowest, creating a "bridge" for hot or cold air into the building. If a cold storage has many heat/cold bridges, it will increase the heat load of the whole warehouse. Therefore, enterprises need to minimize the heat/cold bridge when constructing the cold storage.
In cases where thermal bridge control is not feasible, choose materials with lower thermal conductivity when making walls and roofs.
3. Structural design
Each time the door of the cold room is opened, the cold air in the warehouse will be released and out, hotter air will flow in causing an increase in the temperature in the cold storage leading to the restart of the refrigeration compressor. To reduce losses, Nam Ha Noi cold storage recommends using PVC curtains for cold storage doors to prevent hot air from entering the warehouse.
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PVC curtain
For doors that forklifts passing through frequently, air curtain may be a better choice because the PVC curtain has a risk of getting caught in the forklift.
For businesses who do not know: An air door or air curtain is a device used to prevent air from moving from one open space to another. The most common use is as a downward blower mounted on a building entrance or an opening between two conditioned spaces at different temperatures.
III. Install or rent cold storage – which method is optimal for businesses?
Self-installation and construction of cold storage can help businesses better store, preserve and control frozen goods. At the same time, businesses also have to spend a lot of money on constructing cold storage to build infrastructure, install materials and machines and pay fees incurred during construction.
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Enterprises spend a lot of money on the construction of cold storage
If you are thinking of smaller cold storage models, we need to take into account the issue:
Does the new warehouse area have enough space to store all the goods that the company needs to preserve?
What should businesses do to overcome the above problem in case the warehouse is not enough to hold the expected amount of goods?
Is the enterprise's current finance sufficient to construct and build cold storage?
And a number of other issues related to the management, transportation, and arrangement of frozen goods... that your company need to consider and account carefully before building a cold storage.
The warehouse location also needs to be suitable for moving between ports/warehouses/facilities/stores, so it is difficult for businesses to install their own cold storage.
Lack of storage space for frozen goods may pose a big challenge for companies dealing in this item when expanding their market share in Vietnam and the world. Building a private cold storage can be a good measure to control goods, but the cost optimization problem is still there and the frozen goods businesses must find a solution for the best infrastructure.
One of the solutions most used by retail businesses today is the use of cold storage for rent. According to many businesses that are partners of Chothuekholanh.com, cold storage rental service helps the company reduce significant costs related to the construction and operation of these facilities. Besides, renting cold storages can still give businesses good control of goods in the best way without needing a lot of labor, management and equipment.
As at Nam Ha Noi cold storage, we provide cold storage rental service with a capacity of up to 5000 tons with a full range of modern equipment/machines such as Bitzer compressors, Linde and Komatsu forklifts, etc. to ensure that your company's goods are kept in the best condition.
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So should businesses build a private cold storage or look for cold storage rental services? The answer will be based on the orientation, potential and size of the business. If your company is looking to expand its business, large-scale business type, fully financed, it is advisable to implement a private cold storage. On the contrary, renting a cold storage is the optimal solution if you want the process of management and storage to be faster and simpler.
Nam Ha Noi cold storage hopes that you and your company can find an effective and reasonable storage solution! If you are looking for cold storages in Hanoi, please call the hotline 0772.84.9999 for the fastest advice!
