Cooling Load Calculation

Transmission load
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 KiloWatts.

Conditions:

The dimensions of our cold store are 7m long, 6m wide, and 5m high.
The ambient air is 27°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 8°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 U.

To calculate “A” is fairly easy, it's 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 5m = 30 m2
Side 2 = 6m x 5m = 30 m2
Side 3 = 7m x 5m = 35 m2
Side 4 = 7m x 5m = 35 m2
Roof = 7m x 6m = 42 m2
Floor = 7m x 6m = 42 m2

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 172 m2 x (27°C – 1°C) x 24 ÷ 1000
Q = 30.05184 kWh/day

[172 m2 = 30 m2 + 30 m2 + 35 m2 + 35 m2 + 42 m2]

Floor

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

Q = 0.28W/m2.K x 42 m2 x (8°C – 1°C) x 24 ÷ 1000
Q = 1.97568 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 = 30.05184 kWh/day + 1.97568 kWh/day = 32.03 kWh/day

Remember if your cold room is in direct sunlight you’ll need to account for the sun's energy also.
Product load
Product exchange
Next, we will calculate the cooling load from the product exchange, which is the heat brought
into the cold room from new products that are at a higher temperature.
We can then use the formula

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

Q = kWh/day
CP = Specific Heat Capacity of the 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.

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

There are 4,200kg of new strawberries arriving each day at a temperature of 6°C and a specific
heat capacity of 3.98kJ/kg.°C.

Calculation

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

Q = 4,200kg x 3.98kJ/kg.°C x (6°C – 1°C) / 3600.
Q = 23.22 kWh/day
 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 down their deterioration and preserve them for longer.

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 (2.3 kJ/kg)
3600 = converts the kJ to kWh.
For this product, I’ve used 2.3 kJ/kg per day as an average but this rate changes over time and
with temperature. In this example, we’re using a rule 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 product, the store maintains a hold of 19,000kg of
apples.

Q = m x resp / 3600
Q = 19,000 kg x 2.3 kJ/kg / 3600
Q = 12.14 kWh/day

For the product section, we’ll sum together the product exchange of 23.22 kWh/day and
respiration load of 12.14 kWh/day to get a total product load of 35.36 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 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

We’ll estimate 2 people working in the store for 5 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.

Calculation:

Q = people x time x heat / 1000

Q = 2 x 5 hours x 270 Watts / 1000
Q = 2.7 kWh/day
 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 4 lamps at 100W each, running for 5 hours a day, the calculation would be:

Q= lamps x time x wattage / 1000

Q= 4 x 5 hours x 100W / 1000
Q= 2 kWh/day

For the total internal load we then just sum the people load (2.7 kWh/day) and lighting load (2
kWh/day) to get a value of 4.7 kWh/day.
Equipment load
fan motors
Now we can calculate the heat generation of the fan motors in the evaporator. For this, we can
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 4 fans rated at 200W each and estimate that they
will be running for 13 hours per day.

Calculation:

Q = fans x time x wattage / 1000

Q = 4 x 13 hours x 200W / 1000
Q = 10.4 kWh/day

fan motors (defrosting)

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 space.
In our cold room, it uses an electric heating element rated at 1.2kW, it runs for 45 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 0.75hours x 3 x 0.3
Q = 0.81 kWh/day

The total equipment load is then the fan heat load (10.4 kWh/day) plus the defrost heat load
(0.81 kWh/day) which therefore equals 11.21 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 6 volume air changes per day due to the door being open, the
volume is calculated at 120 m3, each cubic meter of new air provides 2 kJ/°C, the air outside is
27°C and the air inside is 1°C

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

Q = 6 x 120 m3 x 2kJ/°C x (27°C – 1°C) / 3600
Q = 10.4 kWh/day
Total cooling load
To calculate the total cooling load, we will just sum all the values calculated

Transmission load: 32.03 kWh/day

Product load: 35.36 kWh/day
Internal load: 4.7 kWh/day
Equipment load: 11.21 kWh/day
Infiltration load: 10.4 kWh/day
Total = 93.7 kWh/day

Safety Factor
We should also then apply a safety factor to the calculation to account for errors and variations
from design. It’s typical to add 10 to 30 percent onto the calculation to cover this, I’ve gone with
20% in this cold room design so well just multiply the cooling load by a safety factor of 1.2 to
give us our total cooling load of 112.44 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 13 hours per day which is fairly typical for this size and type
of store. Therefore, our total cooling load of 112.44 kWh/day divided by 13 hours means our
refrigeration unit needs to have a capacity of 8.65 kW to sufficiently meet this cooling load.