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Optimization and investigation of the effect of velocity distribution of air curtains on the performance of food refrigerated display cabinets

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Abstract

This paper focuses on improving the performance of the vertical open refrigerated display cabinets (VORDC) by optimizing the structure of deflector, which is affected by inlet velocity and velocity distribution of air curtains. The results show that the temperature of products located at the front and at the rear reduces as the increases of inlet velocity of air curtains. The increase of the inlet velocity of air curtains can strengthen the disturbance inside the VORDC, and also decrease the temperature of products inside the VORDC; the increase of the outer velocity of air curtain will exacerbate the disturbance outside the VORDC and decrease air curtain’s performance. The present study can provide a theoretical foundation for the design of VORDC.

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Abbreviations

\(a\) :

Absorption rate

\(C_{\mu }\) :

Coefficient in K-\(\varepsilon\)

\(G_{K}\) :

Generation of turbulence kinetic energy

\({\rm I}\) :

Directional radiation intensity

K:

Turbulence kinetic energy

S:

Generalized source term

T:

Temperature, [K or °C]

u :

Velocity component in X-direction, velocity (m s−1)

v :

Velocity component in Y-direction, velocity (m s−1)

V:

Velocity vector

\(\alpha\) :

Thermal entrainment factor

\(\varGamma\) :

Generalized diffusion coefficient

\(\varepsilon\) :

Dissipation rate

\(\eta\) :

Molecular viscosity coefficient

\(\eta_{t}\) :

Turbulent viscosity coefficient

\(\rho\) :

Density, [kg m–3]

\(\sigma_{s}\) :

Scattering rate

\(\sigma\) :

Stefan–Boltzmann constant

\(\varphi\) :

General variable

\(\varOmega\) :

Solid angle

a :

Ambient air

r :

Return air

\(s\) :

Average temperature of DAG

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

DAG:

Discharge air grille

RDC:

Refrigerated display cabinets

RAG:

Return air grille

TEF:

Thermal entrainment factor

VORDC:

Vertical open refrigerated display cabinet

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Acknowledgments

The present work is supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21076200), Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Zhengzhou City (10CXTD151), Foundation of Henan Educational Committee (2011A470013) and Shandong Xiaoya Retail Equipment Co., Ltd (In China).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China

    XueHong Wu, QiuYang Ma, YanLi Lu & XueMei Yin

  2. School of Food and Biological Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China

    ZhiJuan Chang

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Production and Safety of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China

    XueHong Wu, ZhiJuan Chang & YanLi Lu

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  1. XueHong Wu
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  2. ZhiJuan Chang
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Correspondence to XueHong Wu.

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Wu, X., Chang, Z., Ma, Q. et al. Optimization and investigation of the effect of velocity distribution of air curtains on the performance of food refrigerated display cabinets. Heat Mass Transfer 52, 1633–1647 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1685-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1685-1

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