Cold storage facilities and warehouses are essential for preserving perishable goods and maintaining optimal conditions for various products. However, they come with their fair share of challenges that can impact safety, energy efficiency, and product quality. Which in turn, affects profit margins. Here are some common cold storage (freezers, coolers) challenges along with how Berner air curtains provide effective solutions.
Cold Storage Challenges When the Door is Open:
- Temperature & Humidity Infiltration: When high-speed doors are opened, temperature fluctuations can compromise the perishable goods, and moisture can infiltrate the space, leading to fog, frost, and ice buildup.
- Condensation & Ice Buildup on the Doors: Freezer temperatures on one side can result in condensation and ice accumulation on the warm side of the doors, causing operational issues and safety concerns.
- Condensation & Ice Buildup on the Cold Side: When doors are open, unprotected openings can lead to unsafe conditions, such as condensation or ice buildup that can fall, requiring expensive de-icing and cleaning services, increased maintenance operations, and/or property damage.
- Food / Perishables Safety: Temperature fluctuations can jeopardize product safety.
- Energy Concerns: Temperature fluctuations causing poor environmental control increases energy consumption.
The Berner Air Curtain Solution:
Berner Air Curtains offer a reliable solution to address these challenges. Properly selecting and installing an air curtain for environmental separation (thermal control) provides several benefits:
- Reduce Moisture Infiltration: Air curtains help reduce the negative impacts associated with moisture infiltration when any doors are open.
- Reduce Fog, Frost & Ice Buildup: By separating temperature and moisture levels and slowing down the entrainment transfer, air curtains can reduce and often prevent the formation of fog, frost, and ice.
- Stabilize Space Conditions: Air curtains create a barrier that stabilizes temperature and humidity, ensuring ideal regulated storage conditions.
- Reduce Defrost Cycles: Improved temperature control reduces the need for frequent refrigeration defrost cycles, while effectively offering better stability in space conditioning, ensuring ideal regulated storage conditions.
- Increased Air Movement: Can extend product preservation and increase shelf life while reducing product losses due to frost/ice damage.
- Reduce Liability – Slipping, Visibility: Enhanced environmental control reduces the risk of accidents, such as slipping. They can also reduce fog and ice which improves visibility and sensors operating within the storage area.
- Dry Door and Floor Surfaces: Air curtains can help keep doors and floor surfaces dry, reducing safety hazards or help address code violations.
- Increase Door Effectiveness: Berner air curtains can improve the overall efficiency of high-speed doors when open and help increase the thermal break when closed.
- Save Energy: Properly selected, installed and operated air curtains contribute to reduced overall facility energy consumption, and improved facility safety, while increasing daily product throughput with fewer obstructions, issues and concerns, while saving money.
With over 60 years of experience, Berner has been manufacturing air curtains designed specifically for cold storage openings. Our expertise and engineering capabilities can help you determine the right air curtain for your facility’s unique requirements.
Contact Us for a Free Cold Storage Analysis:
If you’re looking to enhance the efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness of your cold storage facility, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We offer a complimentary Cold Storage Analysis to assess the suitability of Berner air curtains for your specific freezer and cooler needs.
Berner Air Curtains provide effective solutions to the challenges faced by cold storage facilities. We look forward to helping you improve your cold storage environment and maximize your operational efficiency.