Envelope Design

The envelope design for the refrigerated sections of a facility serve an important role. These envelopes reduce heat transfer and control moisture infiltration and condensation. Heat transfer through refrigerated space walls and the outside ambient environment creates a greater load.

Moisture in refrigerated spaces comes with a litany of disadvantages:

• Increased Energy Costs
• Diminished Insulating Effect
• Structural Damage
• Biological Growth
• Ice/Frost Formation

Insulation

About one third of cold storage heat gain is through the envelope. Insulation of the envelope surrounding the refrigerated space and the external building shell will both be important.  The warehouse can be modeled with the incremental improvements in varying thickness of insulation in wall, floors and roof systems. Each type of insulation delivers unique performance characteristics. Research all available options thoroughly to ensure maximum benefit.

Roofs

The critical failure points for roofs will be water and vapor leaks. The roof serves an important structural role. There are three important considerations when designing a successful roof system:

·        Maintaining structural integrity at all times.

·        Sealing all joints to prevent air and moisture infiltration.

·        A required uninterrupted vapor retarder.

Walls

Types and designs of walls will be important. The current trend in the industry is to use preformed materials such as prefabricated insulated metal panels and insulated concrete.

External

External walls must accommodate loads incurred as a result of the physical environment (i.e. wind and rain). Vapor and heat transfer control must also be included. External walls contribute to energy efficiency for the facilities’ entire heating and cooling load, not just refrigerated spaces.

Internal

Internal wall design and configuration will vary depending on facility layout. If cold storage spaces sit adjacent to one another, no need exists to insulate the adjoining walls. If a refrigerated space will be individually insulated, then different design specifications must be considered. The internal walls of refrigerated rooms must also adhere to food safety regulation. With that in mind, wall materials or surfaces must be washable in addition to sealed and vapor retardant.

Doors

Air infiltration through open doors can represent 50 percent or more of the total refrigeration load. Cold storage doors come in a myriad of choices—all with varying aspects that affect energy use and functionality. Modern cold storage doors may need to accommodate products handled by automated processes at high volume with rapid turnover.

Three important factors will influence design and choice concerning doors:

• How the door will be used
• How often it will be used
• The space required for a forklift, its load, and the mast to pass through without hitting the door

Designers will also need to consider:

• Door Activation methods
• Life cycle costs

Kingspan Jindal’s solutions include insulated metal cold storage roof and wall panel systems and  Insulated Doors.
Kingspan Jindal’s insulated panel systems can be applied to atmospheric controlled environments where hygienic control is of the utmost importance. The use of Kingspan Jindal’s cold storage wall panels, cold storage roof panels, and Doors are designed to fit the needs of any thermally controlled building envelope.