On the trade-off between energy consumption and food quality loss in supermarket refrigeration systems

This paper studies the trade-off between energy consumption and food quality loss, at varying ambient conditions, in supermarket refrigeration systems. Compared with the traditional operation with pressure control, a large potential for energy savings without extra loss of food quality is demonstrated. We also show that by utilizing the relatively slow dynamics of the food temperature, compared with the air temperature, we are able to further lower both the energy consumption and the peak value of power requirement. The Pareto optimal curve is found by off-line optimization.