Chillers help fish firm keep its cool

Aggreko designed a solution that involved use of the company's Very Low Temperature Fluid Chillers (VLTC) to maintain temperatures below -20°C in the cold store.  The objective was to ensure the stock remained in optimum condition, while the permanent cooling plant was refurbished.

The VLTCs were combined with low temperature air handling units and bespoke ancillary equipment, all powered by two Aggreko diesel generators. This enabled a total shutdown of Five Star Fish’s permanent cooling plant, as part of the 13,000m³ cold store upgrade and maintenance programme.

Whilst cold store requirements are hard to achieve with some standard air-cooled chilling units, Aggreko's specialist air-cooled units can easily go as low as -30°C and its water-cooled units can go down to -45°C, when combined with air-cooled chillers or cooling towers.

To achieve the required kW using standard air-cooled chillers can involve a lot of equipment. This is because the higher the chiller’s minimum fluid outlet temperature, the lower the kW chilling output from the low temperature air handlers. This means an increased number of air handling units need to be used. 

As Aggreko's water-cooled VLTC can achieve lower temperature set-points and at a higher capacity, we were able to use less equipment to reach the desired temperature, especially inside the cold store, where space was at a premium.    

To optimise the limited space on site and minimise business disruption, our interlocking air handling units were stacked three high within the cold room, while the chillers and generators were located in a very small footprint externally. 

Aggreko's sales and engineering departments worked closely with Rotormotion to design the temporary cooling scheme. This was fully approved by the Five Star Fish management team, and installed and commissioned within 72 hours of the initial enquiry.   

The quick turnaround enabled Five Star Fish to fully test and have confidence in our cooling package before switching off its equipment, enabling the company to fast track the refurbishment programme. Our team tested the system to prove that the rental package held the required temperatures before taking the customer’s whole system offline.

Telemetry technology

Our solution ensured the required temperatures were maintained during the refurbishment programme.  Aggreko’s telemetry technology was used to remotely monitor all equipment round the clock, relaying critical information, such as pump performance, fuel levels and consumption rates, load monitoring and diagnostic checks. Any alerts were received by our local engineering team, who could quickly respond if required. A full refuelling service was also provided.

Peter Adams, managing director, of Rotormotion, said: “Having worked with Aggreko on critical engineering projects at other food processing sites we knew they had the specialist knowledge and reliable technology to provide temporary cooling for this challenging project. 

“They were able to maintain the ambient temperature our client required to keep their fish products in perfect condition and design an effective solution that avoided business disruption.”

After a six-week period, and once the refurbished cooling plant was fully tested and re-commissioned, the Aggreko cooling and power infrastructure was disconnected.

Aggreko’s array of specialist low temperature equipment enables the provision of standalone cold storage packages. This means that our equipment can supplement and tie into existing customer systems, where applicable, to provide a space efficient and cost-effective solution to a customers’ requirements.