Cold room,
Cold rooms,
Cold rooms are places where the preservation of various products or the production process is facilitated thanks to a cooling system that provides certain climatic conditions.
They are a fundamental element in many sectors, from the food industry for proper food storage to the industrial sector in production processes where refrigeration is used. For example, in a vehicle test tunnel where a cold room simulates specific climate conditions, or in the production process of drugs like insulin.
Cold rooms can be classified according to their functions or building sizes.
Cold rooms according to temperature ranges.
There are four types of cold rooms depending on the temperature range in which they operate:
Storage cold rooms, or positive temperature cold rooms, are designed to store products between 0 and 10 ºC. They are typically used to store fresh food, beverages, or pharmaceuticals.
Freezer cold rooms, or negative temperature cold rooms, are used to store frozen products between 0 and -28ºC. They typically have better insulation and require fewer daily opening times. Frozen foods, vaccines, or organic materials are stored at these temperatures.
Ice cream cold room
Deep freezing tunnel. These types of cold rooms, which can be frozen between -30ºC and -40ºC, freeze products individually as they move through the room using automatic displacement systems and cold air currents. They are typically used in the food industry for freezing meat trays or desserts.
Temperature blast chillers. The purpose of these types of cold rooms is to rapidly lower the temperature of products to reduce the risk of contamination and preserve their properties for longer periods. These types of cold rooms are often used for food preparation in industrial kitchens.
Cold room size
When we consider the size of the camera, we see:
Small-sized cold rooms up to 30 m3 for use in businesses such as catering and local businesses, butchers, fisheries, ice cream parlors…
Medium-sized cold rooms up to 200 m3 are used in places such as supermarkets, cold rooms, hotels, pharmaceutical laboratories, etc.
Large industrial cold rooms up to 3000 m3. These rooms are found in large logistics centers or auctions.
Cold rooms according to their size.
The cold room requires the following parts:
Panels, floors, and roofs are typically made from sandwich panels. A sandwich panel consists of two steel sheets encasing a high-density polyurethane insulation core. This panel provides the most efficient and durable cooling for the cold room.
Airtight door. May be sliding or pivoting and may include an air curtain or shutter to reduce cold losses with each door opening.
Humidifiers or dehumidifiers. These allow the addition or removal of humidity (relative humidity) in the cold room to adapt to the best preservation conditions for the stored product.
Cooling or freezing equipment. Choosing a cooling unit is crucial for optimal product preservation. It can be a monoblock or split system:
The monoblock cooling unit is a unit where the condenser and evaporator are located in a single unit.
The condensing unit is a split refrigeration system consisting of two units separated from the evaporator. Installation of this type of system is more complex, but it allows for the selection of the evaporator type best suited for optimal preservation conditions for each product and the removal of hot air from the room containing the cold chamber.
Ventilation and air extraction system.
Locked man alarm.
Gas leak alarm system.
How not to make a mistake when choosing a cooling unit?
KESKINSO, features the Calcooling system, software developed to calculate cold room cooling needs and select cooling equipment. By entering specific parameters based on the cold room type (modular, refrigerated cabinet, display cabinet, construction site, etc.), insulation type, and size, the cooling calculator indicates the appropriate equipment.
In addition to specifying the type of cold room, the refrigeration calculator knows the standard preservation parameters for all types of products (meat, vegetables, grains, dairy products, fruit, pharmaceuticals, bread, wine, seafood, etc.) and allows you to input the number of door openings, daily air renewals, outside humidity, and even the product load in the cold room. With all this data, the tool provides the cooling needs of that room—the cooling power you need to best preserve the product.
Considering these technical requirements and the regulations regarding the installation of refrigeration equipment, we can choose the ideal equipment for the cold room.