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Careful Compressor Selection Improves

Refrigeration System Efficiencies
by emersonclimate on March 20, 2014

In a regulatory environment where phase-down proposals for refrigerants containing HFCs are giving rise
to a new class of refrigerant alternatives, retailers are faced with making decisions about how to design
refrigeration systems. Our recent Making Sense webinar, entitled Best Practices for Evaluating
Compressor System Performance, took a closer look at this issue to help retailers balance sustainability
concerns within the contexts of evaluating operating costs, maintenance requirements and readiness of
available technology.
From distributed DX rack systems that reduce refrigerant charge to cascading and transcritical booster
CO2-based systems, todays refrigeration systems are become increasingly complex in response to
regulatory and consumer demands. Not only do these more complex systems reduce refrigerant charge,
they also promise improved energy efficiencies and lower GWP potential. Choosing a compressor that
meets these demanding requirements is a critical aspect of refrigeration system design.
Through Emerson Climates software-guided selection tools, were helping retailers make this important
decision. When selecting a compressor that meets your applications requirements, you must carefully
evaluate factors that impact compressor performance:
Difference between mid-point and dew point
Compressor and evaporator capacity
Mechanical sub-cooling and vapor injection
Once retailers have a good idea of fundamental design conditions from refrigerant choice and midpoint selection to minimum condensing temperature and liquid sub-cooling preferences they can use
our product selection software to recommend the best available compressor option.
As we explained in the webinar, we suggest the following best practices when selecting a compressor for
your next refrigeration system:

 Use mid-point, not dew point, as the basis of the decision, because thats essentially what the
refrigeration system is seeing.
To avoid oversizing your system, let evaporator capacity (rather than compressor capacity) inform
the decision process. This provides a better reflection of how the system would operate.
At the end of the day, the primary goal retailers should keep in mind is to select a compressor capable of
meeting the load at the highest ambient temperature while providing the best annual energy efficiency. To
learn more about how to select the right compressor for your application, please visit our Making
Sensewebsite and listen to the archived webinar on demand.
Mike Saunders
Director, End User Technical Sales and Support
Emerson Climate Technologies