Cooling load calculation – Cold room worked

example
Lets consider a simplified example of a cooling load calculation for a cold
room. Now If you’re doing this for a real world example then I
recommend you use a design software such as the Danfoss coolselector
app for speed and accuracy. Download here –> http://bit.ly/2Ars6yF

Transmission load

 The dimensions of our cold store are 6m long, 5m wide and 4m high.
 The ambient air is 30°c at 50% RH, The internal air is 1°C at 95%
RH
 The walls, roof and floor are all insulated with 80mm polyurethane
with a U value of 0.28W/m2.K
 The ground temperature is 10°C.

Just to note the manufacturer should tell you what the u value is for the
insulation panels, if not, then you will need to calculate this.

To calculate the transmission load we will be using the formula

Q = U x A x (Temp out – Temp in) x 24 ÷ 1000.

 Q= kWh/day heat load

 U = U value of insulation (we already know this value) (W/m2.K)
 A = surface area of walls roof and floor (we will calculate this) (m2)
 Temp in = The air temperature inside the room (°C)
 Temp out = The ambient external air temperature (°C)
 24 = Hours in a day
 1000 = conversion from Watts to kW.

To calculate “A” is fairly easy, its just the size of each internal walls, so
drop the numbers in to find the area of each wall, roof and floor.
Side 1 = 6m x 4m = 24m2
Side 2 = 6m x 4m = 24m2
Side 3 = 5m x 4m = 20m2
Side 4 = 5m x 4m = 20m2
Roof = 5m x 6m = 30m2
Floor = 5m x 6m = 30m2

Then we can run these numbers in the formula we saw earlier, you’ll
need to calculate the floor separately to the walls and roof as the
temperature difference is different under the floor so the heat transfer
will therefore be different.

Walls and roof

Q = U x A x (Temp out – Temp in) x 24 ÷ 1000

Q = 0.28W/m2.K x 113m2 x (30°C – 1°C) x 24 ÷ 1000
Q = 22 kWh/day

[113m2 = 24m2 + 24m2 + 20m2 + 20m2 + 30m2 + 30m2 ]

Floor

Q = U x A x (Temp out – Temp in) x 24 ÷ 1000

Q = 0.28W/m2.K x 30m2 x (10°C – 1°C) x 24 ÷ 1000
Q = 1.8 kWh/day

If the floor isn’t insulated then you will need to use a different formula
based on empirical data.

Total daily transmission heat gain = 22kWh/day + 1.8kWh/day =

23.8kWh/day

Remember if your cold room is in direct sunlight you’ll need to account

for the suns energy also.
Product load – Product exchange

Next we will calculate the cooling load from the product exchange, that
being the heat brought into the cold room from new products which are
at a higher temperature.

For this example we’ll be storing apples, we can look up the specific heat
capacity of the apples but do remember if you’re freezing products then
the products will have a different specific heat when cooling, freezing
and sub cooling so you’ll need to account for this and calculate this
separately, but in this example we’re just cooling.

There are 4,000kg of new apples arriving each day at a temperature of

5°C and a specific heat capacity of 3.65kJ/kg.°C.

We can then use the formula

Q = m x Cp x (Temp enter – Temp store) / 3600.

 Q = kWh/day
 CP = Specific Heat Capacity of product (kJ/kg.°C)
 m = the mass of new products each day (kg)
 Temp enter = the entering temperature of the products (°C)
 Temp store = the temperature within the store (°C)
 3600 = convert from kJ to kWh.

Calculation

Q = m x Cp x (Temp enter – Temp store) / 3600

Q = 4,000kg x 3.65kJ/kg.°C x (5°C – 1°C) / 3600.
Q = 16kWh/day

Product load – Product respiration

Next we calculate the product respiration, this is the heat generated by

living products such as fruit and vegetables. These will generate heat as
they are still alive, that’s why we’re cooling them to slow them down
their deterioration and preserve them for longer.

For this example I’ve used 1.9kJ/kg per day as an average but this rate
changes over time and with temperature. In this example we’re using a
rules of thumb value just to simplify the calculation since this cooling
load is not considered critical. If you were to calculate for a critical load
you should use greater precision. In this example the store maintains a
hold of 20,000kg of apples.

To calculate this we’ll use the formula

Q = m x resp / 3600

 Q = kWh/day
 m = mass of product in storage (kg)
 resp = the respiration heat of the product (1.9kJ/kg)
 3600 = converts the kJ to kWh.

Q = m x resp / 3600
Q = 20,000kg x 1.9kJ/kg / 3600
Q = 10.5kWh/day

For the product section we’ll sum together the product exchange of
16kWh/day and respiration load of 10.5kWh/day to get a total product
load of 26.5 kWh/day.

Internal heat load – People

Next we’ll calculate the internal loads from people working in the cold
room, as people generate heat and we need to account for this.

We’ll estimate 2 people working in the store for 4 hours a day and we
can look up and see at this temperature they will give off around 270
Watts of heat per hour inside.
We’ll use the formula:

Q = people x time x heat / 1000

 Q = kWh/day
 people = how many people inside
 time = length of time they spend inside each day per person (Hours)
 heat = heat loss per person per hour (Watts)
 1,000 just converts the watts into kW

Calculation:

Q = people x time x heat / 1000

Q = 2 x 4 hours x 270 Watts / 1000
Q = 2.16 kWh/day

Internal heat load – Lighting

Then we can calculate the heat generated by the lighting, this is fairly
simple to do and we can use the formula

Q= lamps x time x wattage / 1000

 Q = kWh/day,
 lamps = number of lamps within the cold room
 time = hours of use per day
 wattage = power rating of the lamps
 1000 = converts the Watts to kW.

If we have 3 lamps at 100W each, running for 4 hours a day, the

calculation would be:

Q= lamps x time x wattage / 1000

Q= 3 x 4 hours x 100W / 1000
Q= 1.2kWh/day
For the total internal load we then just sum the people load (2.16
kWh/day) and lighting load (1.2kWh/day) to get a value of
3.36kWh/day.

Equipment load – fan motors

Now we can calculate the heat generation of the fan motors in the
evaporator. For this we can the use the formula of:

Q = fans x time x wattage / 1000

 Q = kWh/day
 fans = the number of fans
 time = fan daily run hours (hours)
 wattage = the rated power of the fan motors (Watts)
 1000 = convert from watts to kw.

In this cold room evaporator we’ll be using 3 fans rated at 200W each
and estimate that they will be running for 14 hours per day.

Calculation:

Q = fans x time x wattage / 1000

Q = 3 x 14 hours x 200W / 1000
Q = 8.4kWh/day

Equipment load – fan motors

Now we will calculate the heat load caused by defrosting the evaporator.
To calculate this we’ll use the formula:

Q = power x time x cycles x efficiency

 Q = kWh/day,
 power = power rating of the heating element (kW)
 time = defrost run time (Hours)
 cycles = how many times per day will the defrost cycle occur
 efficiency = what % of the heat will be transferred into the space.

In this example our cold room uses an electric heating element rated at
1.2kW, it runs for 30 minutes 3 times per day and the estimate that
30% of all the energy it consumes is just transferred into the cold room.

Q = power x time x cycles x efficiency

Q = 1.2kW x 0.5hours x 3 x 0.3
Q = 0.54kWh/day

The total equipment load is then the fan heat load (8.4kWh/day) plus
the defrost heat load (0.54kWh/day) which therefore equals 8.94
kWh/day

Infiltration load

Now we need to calculate the heat load from air infiltration. I’m going to
use a simplified equation but depending on how critical your calculation
is then you may need to use other more comprehensive formulas to
achieve greater precision. We will use the formula:

Q = changes x volume x energy x (Temp out – Temp in ) / 3600

 Q = kWh/d
 changes = number of volume changes per day
 volume = the volume of the cold store
 energy = energy per cubic meter per degree Celsius
 Temp out is the air temperature outside
 Temp in is the air temperature inside
 3600 is just to convert from kJ to kWh.

We’ll estimate that there will be 5 volume air changes per day due to the
door being open, the volume is calculated at 120m3, each cubic meter of
new air provides 2kJ/°C, the air outside is 30°C and the air inside is 1°C
Q = changes x volume x energy x (Temp out – Temp in ) / 3600
Q = 5 x 120m3 x 2kJ/°C x (30°C – 1°C ) / 3600
Q = 9.67 kWh/day

Total cooling load

To calculate the total cooling load we will just sum all the values
calculated

Transmission load: 23.8kWh/day

Product load: 26.5 kWh/day
Internal load: 3.36kWh/day
Equipment load: 8.94 kWh/day
Infiltration load: 9.67 kWh/day
Total = 72.27 kWh/day

Safety Factor

We should also then apply a safety factor to the calculation to account

for errors and variations from design. Its typical to add 10 to 30 percent
onto the calculation to cover this, I’ve gone with 20% in this example so
well just multiply the cooling load by a safety factor of 1.2 to give us our
total cooling load of 86.7 kWh/day

Refrigeration cooling capacity sizing

The last thing we need to do is calculate the refrigeration capacity to

handle this load, a common approach is to average the total daily
cooling load by the run time of the refrigeration unit. For this I’m
estimating the unit to run 14 hours per day which is fairly typical for this
size and type of store. Therefore our total cooling load of 86.7kWh/day
divided by 14 hours means our refrigeration unit needs to have a
capacity of 6.2kW to sufficiently meet this cooling load.