Cold Room Construction
Insulated wall and ceiling panels are standard as well as a cold room insulated flooring systems. Thicknesses and material specifications vary depending on size and room uses. The door systems used in a cold room are very important as well, engineering the correct type is a critical step in ensuring thermal envelope performance. The mechanical design for a cold room is also critical in keeping perishable goods from going bad.
Cold Room Mechanical Systems – This is dictated by what the host building has to offer as far as utilities. Availability of power, drain, water chilled system, and so forth. The main components to a cold room are a condenser, whether air cooled (ACCU) or water cooled (WCCU), evaporators, and a compressor. Like any refrigeration system, cold rooms use an evaporator inside the unit and a condenser outside the unit to move heat outside, thus cooling the inside. Redundant mechanical systems are also utilized in the event one system fails the other will continue to keep the space operating as specified.
Cold Room Control Systems – An added benefit to having Western Environmental design and build your cold room, is we build our own control systems and can be customized as needed for any specialty control requests.
Cold Room Installation – Designing efficient cold rooms is only the start, materials selection and installation are just as important. Our experienced team will ensure the installation of panels, flooring, lighting, electrical, piping, etc. are all executed to the highest of standards. We will also test and certify the cold room or rooms as required to prove functionality. We also offer preventative maintenance plans!
Designing Your Cold Room(s) – When designing a new cold room there are several design parameters to consider:
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Temperature set point and temperature tolerance
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Relative humidity (RH) percentage set point and tolerances
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Maximum continuous occupants
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Fresh air requirements
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Internal equipment loads
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Door type and quantity such as sliding, swinging, overhead, even adding vinyl strips to allow access while retaining as much cold air loss as possible when a door is open
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Door opening frequency
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Conveyor opening, quantity, and size (if applicable)
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Ambient air temperatures
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Ambient relative humidity
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Desired location of condensing unit
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Will redundant mechanical systems be required?
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Will data recording be required?
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Is an alarm required?
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Any specialty controls, filtration, or air requirements?
Temperature and humidity tolerances in a cold room must be maintained to ensure longevity of stored goods inside. A cold room needs to be precisely engineered from the thermal envelope to the mechanical system, to the insulated flooring, to the ceiling, all must work as one system. A weak point in any creates a faulty room or system. For this reason, trusting our experienced team members to design and construct your next cold room is a safe decision as we will guarantee the performance as specified.
Freezers
Walk In Freezer Construction - Similar design to a cold room, a freezer is designed to maintain temperatures below freezing. We can design to temperatures of –60 degrees Fahrenheit or more if necessary. Just like a cold room, a freezer uses an evaporator inside the unit and a condenser outside the unit to move heat outside, thus cooling or freezing the inside.
Cold Clean Rooms
What is a Cold Clean Room? – A cold cleanroom is similar to a “standard” cold room but includes HEPA or ULPA filtration to circulate the air and minimize the particulate. Typically, a ceiling system is installed in the cold room with fan filter units brought in to circulate the air. As many as required for the proper number of air changes per hour needed for the desired ISO classification. The air is brought back above the ceiling via return air chases or a double wall design.
Cold Clean Room ISO Classifications – Western Environmental will design your cold cleanroom solution from ISO 4 through ISO 8 classifications as required.
Industries cold rooms and freezers are utilized in:
Pharma & Healthcare Industry- A major consumer of these rooms, typically storing temperature sensitive drugs, organs for transplants, blood and plasma, skin grafts and tissue, etc. Storing these in an environment that’s too cold or too hot, can ruin the fragile materials which are needed for saving lives. A vaccine for example that requires subzero temperature will not be as effective when stored in different temperatures.
Retail Food Industry – Frozen meats, fish, poultry, dairy, etc. must be stored in a controlled environment to limit spoiling, prolong nutritious value, retain taste, and add to the shelf life.
Fresh Produce Storage – Fruits, vegetables, and other assorted fresh produce needs to be stored in low temperature spaces to slow down the decay rate and prolong their overall shelf life for consumers.
Grocery Stores – Nearly all grocery stores will have cold rooms and freezers to keep goods as fresh as possible for as long as possible.
Biotech/Science/Laboratories – Drug development, researching, manufacturing, etc. will all require the use of controlled environment cold rooms to store materials critical for their process.
Food Processing & Manufacturing – An industry with strict guidelines needs to be aware of all health hazards/contaminants throughout all aspects of their processes. With foods being so easily perishable, the need for storage in a cold controlled environment room is critical.
Additional – There are many Industries/products that require cold rooms and freezers such as, plants/flowers, film, cosmetics, any restaurant, or bar, IT and data centers, electronics, and so forth.
Benefits of Using Western Environmental, a division of CES – For starters, we design each cold room and freezer with attention to detail ensuring the room’s performance exceeds specifications. Other companies offer standard sizes and offerings only, whereas we can accommodate any custom design requirements.
As a design build firm specializing in controlled environment rooms for over 30 years, engineering difficulties and complex builds are what we pursue. If you are searching for a vendor for your next engineering challenge, look no further than Western Environmental, a division of CES.
Cold Rooms
What is a cold room?
A cold room is an insulated environmentally controlled refrigeration chamber or enclosure designed to maintain temperature tolerances for the storage of goods and materials. Cold rooms, also called walk-ins, are enclosed, refrigerated storage spaces that have footprints generally smaller than 3,000 square feet and can be used for things such as storing perishable food items or packaging food, items such as meats, seafoods, fruits, biopharmaceutical, and pharmaceuticals such as vaccines and other drugs, chemicals, as well as tobacco products, flowers/plants, and so forth.
