Best Usage Of Refrigeration Equipment

 Reimagining Refrigeration & Cold Rooms for India

— Beyond Basics (Part-1)

Refrigeration and cold rooms are now central to India’s supply chain — from farm produce to vaccines and from hotels to e-commerce frozen deliveries. Yet most industry write-ups focus on equipment specs, temperature charts, and supplier comparisons. What’s rarely explored are the deeply Indian challenges and opportunities — the ones that define success or failure on the ground.

Not All Cold Rooms Are Equal

1.   Climate Variation Across India:

India’s climate isn’t uniform — it varies from 40°C deserts in Rajasthan to humid coasts in Kerala, to cold plains in North India. A cold room in Chennai faces heat + humidity, whereas one in Chandigarh battles dry heat + seasonal drops to 0 °C.

 

⚡ Why these matters:

Standard cold room designs often assume “one environment fits all”. In reality:

· Insulation needs differ — humidity causes condensation and corrosion faster in coastal areas.

·   Compressor life varies — high ambient heat pushes compressors harder.

·   Energy consumption spikes during local heat waves or monsoon peaks.

2.   Load Patterns in India — Irregular & Seasonal

Most Indian cold rooms don’t run 12 months at full capacity. Instead, they see:

🌎 Seasonal peaks — e.g., Mango season, Banana season.

🌍 Harvest bursts — Potato, Onion, vegetables.

🌏 Festival demands — Sweets, cold chain for dairy.

Traditional designs assume steady load — but Indian cold rooms need to handle high spikes and long idle periods.

 

👉 Solution concept:

Design modular systems that can automatically scale capacity — similar to how cloud servers scale compute. Yet this is rarely offered by existing vendors.

 

3.   Grid Instability — India’s Silent Load Killer

Power supply fluctuation is a harsh reality in many Indian towns and rural cold chains:

⚡ Voltage spikes

⚡ Frequent outages

⚡ Load shedding

 

This leads to:

·         Compressor stress

·         Control unit / Controller damage

·         Product loss from mid-night blackouts

 

🔌 A practical approach:

Integrate low-cost stabilizers, UPS for controls, and solar hybrid setups, etc. — predictable ROI through reduced spoilage.

4.   Space Realities: Not a Warehouse, But Often a Backyard

The typical Indian cold room isn’t always a purpose-built warehouse:

🏭 Backyard sheds

🏭 Partial rooms within a building

🏭 Shared town/market spaces

 

These spaces are constrained — low ceiling height, criss-cross walls, poor ventilation, weak floors and non-insulated surroundings are common.

 

Impact on design:

✔ Standard panels don’t work well for retrofits

✔ Airflow dynamics change drastically

✔ Doors open frequently due to small workforce

 

🏡 A practical approach:

This calls for bespoke airflow modelling and door-management zoning — topics seldom discussed outside engineers’ circles.

 

Cont. – Part 2

 

If you think this information is useful and you would like to know more. Put a comment “Not All Cold Rooms are Equal”

 

About the Blogger

Kiran Kshirsagar

Mobile: +91 81080 15007