A new approach to performance data harvesting and processing in commercial refrigeration systems.

New lay-outs for commercial refrigeration systems, mainly based on CO2, have been progressively replacing HFC ones. Their performances are typically evaluated thermodynamically, resulting in difficult comparison amongst systems. The refrigeration unit could in principle be certified similarly to other appliances; however technology is rapidly evolving, adapting to climates and customers’ requirements, like integration with AC, making systematic laboratory testing a challenge. Moreover, plant design and management heavily affect overall efficiency. Therefore, the evaluation of efficiency requires collection of data from the field. Despite commercial refrigeration systems are fully equipped with monitoring devices easily accessible and transparent information about performance and energy efficiency are often lacking. Together, there is increasing demand for key parameters that can help in forecasting performance degradation of the entire system or of single components, to prevent costly failures. A new approach to data collection and processing is presented and its potentialities illustrated by preliminary field data.