Adiabatic Subcoolers in Supermarkets in Northern Italy

1. Installation context

One bet that innovation often poses is to move to sustainable technologies without loss of performance. This has also been true for those new installations in commercial refrigeration where MITA Cooling Technologies’ patented adiabatic “subcoolers,” Alchemist series, have been provided.

Arneg Spa, an international leader in the design, manufacture and installation of complete equipment for the retail sector, also took part in the bet, integrating Alchemist to the refrigeration units of some supermarkets in northern Italy.

Precisely in the sector where Arneg Spa operates, challenges dictated by ecological choices are materializing. Among the most important ones is also the transition from the use of high-GWP refrigerants to lower-GWP refrigerants, particularly R744. Thus, there is also a need to remedy the reduction in energy efficiency resulting from the choice to substitute HFC gases (which are generally better performing).

Arneg SpA, according to its corporate mission, aims to “pursue its economic goals while interacting with the environment,” including through new smart technologies. All this is net of some special requirements: Arneg’s supermarket customers, for example, may be located near residential centers and thus require low-noise solutions.

2. Proposed solution

Alchemist was conceived by MITA Cooling Technologies (a company that has been designing, manufacturing, and marketing evaporative and adiabatic coolers and condensers since 1960) specifically for commercial refrigeration with R744 systems, a particularly demanding sector that is attentive to both consumption and reliability.

The standard version of Alchemist adopts low-noise EC PLUG-FAN fans; in one of the installed machines (5000 S version), sound-absorbing paneling was also provided to further reduce noise impact.

3. The key to success

The use of Alchemist has proven to be optimal in terms of increased performance, while also containing sound levels: the adiabatically treated air (i.e., at a lower temperature than ambient air) goes to “subcool” the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit. This action leads to an increase in the useful effect and consequently greater efficiency of the refrigeration cycle, which translates into electricity savings.