Novel Aerofoils used for Reducing Energy Consumption and Improving Temperature Performance for Multi-Deck Refrigerated Display Cabinets

The paper presents a study of the impact of using air guides attached to the front of the shelves in an open fronted multi-deck refrigerated display cabinet (ODC). A 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of an ODC was created. The infiltration heat loads with and without the guides were predicted. A higher infiltration heat load without the guides was predicted than when the guides were fitted. The reduction in entrainment was predicted to be 34% equating to an overall reduction in heat load of 24%. Two cabinets were tested with and without the guides to the EN23953 test standard. Adding the air guides reduced the maximum temperature test pack by 0.6ºC as well as reducing the energy consumption by 15%. When the cabinet controller was adjusted so that the maximum pack temperatures were the same for the two tests, the aerofoils reduced energy consumption by 17%.