A Norwegian SPAR supermarket in Røyken, southwest of Oslo, was the first to install the new ValuePack II CO2 rack from Danish OEM Advansor, achieving a 58% saving on the store’s energy consumption in the process.
The ValuePack II rack from Advansor was installed inRøyken in September 2020 as part of a pilot project. It has a cooling capacity of 136kW (38.7TR), and is equipped with low-pressure ejectors and cylinder unloading technology. The 58% energy saving, which is compared to the store’s previous refrigeration system, amounts to 200,000kWh per year.
The ValuePack II rack was officially launched in March this year, after a two-year testing period in the laboratory and three pilot projects. It is designed for convenience stores, supermarkets and smaller industrial applications like cold room storage and commercial kitchens.
Capacity regulation
A refrigeration system must be designed to withstand the worst possible operating scenarios, which in Norway includes summer days with temperatures higher than 30°C, even if these happen very rarely. Therefore systems are often larger, and more expensive than they need to be for most of the year.
“The solution at SPAR Røyken has ejectors taking part of the ‘lift’ the compressors normally take, and more is lifted without using more power,” Advansor explained on its website. “This gives more capacity when it is warm outside, and the facilities can thus be dimensioned less.”
“The combination of the new compressor technology and ejector gives a better capacity regulation of the system, and in the future the possibility of smaller and less expensive facilities,” Advansor added.
“The combination of the new compressor technology and ejector gives a better capacity regulation of the system, and in the future the possibility of smaller and less expensive facilities”
Advansor
Saving space
SPAR didn’t just save energy, they also saved a fair bit of space with the new system.
“I definitely do not mind cutting electricity costs, but that is not the only advantage the new system provides,” said SPAR Røyken Store Manager Bjørn Sørlie. “In the past, we had a huge technical space that was filled to the brim to accommodate the refrigeration system, now everything fits in to this cabinet, so it makes an incredible space saver.”
“The most important thing for me, however, is how reliable the system is,” Sørlie added. “Not getting a message on a Saturday night that the refrigeration system has the strike means a lot.”
The ValuePack II rack from Advansor can be split in three sections for easier transport and installation. The core module fits on a Euro pallet.
The ValuePack II is based on Advansor’s original ValuePack, a proven technology that has sold more than 2,000 units.
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