With advanced refrigeration technology, glycol-cooled refrigeration applications provide cooling solutions with maximum energy efficiency.
While glycol refrigeration systems are nothing new, the popularity of these systems have been significantly increasing. Not only are glycol refrigeration systems highly reliable, but with recent changes to refrigerant pricing, the commitment to sustainable refrigeration approaches, and environmental concerns, many people are seeing the benefits of glycol refrigeration systems.
Referred to as antifreeze, glycol is a class of organic compounds that belong to the alcohol family. Glycol has excellent heat transfer properties and is able to remove large amounts of heat quickly. Due to its excellent heat transfer properties, glycol is ideal for cooling and chilling applications. When mixed with water, glycol slows the rate of freezing and helps to maintain temperature consistency in the application.
Glycol systems use fully flooded evaporator coils, unlike conventional refrigeration systems which use direct expansion evaporators. This difference results in glycol systems having a faster temperature pull downtime, increased temperature holding times, and improved recovery times after defrost. It also results in increased product shelf life, reduced waste, and fresher products. Glycol is a natural refrigerant, making it much more environmentally friendly, and can also work to inhibit corrosion and bacterial growth within the pipes of a system.
Due to increased efficiencies throughout a system, glycol refrigeration systems encounter fewer refrigerant leaks. The volume of refrigerant in the system is significantly reduced which can also provide significant savings in cost. With a reduction in the system complexity and failure points on a glycol system, servicing and downtimes are reduced along with maintenance costs. Failures in a glycol system on one refrigerated space are unlikely to affect the integrity of other refrigerated spaces on the system.
Keeping products at a consistently low temperature can be expensive and require regularly scheduled monitoring. The introduction of glycol refrigeration systems in their varied sizes has made it easier and less expensive to produce high-quality products without the need for continually checking the cooling process.