Refrigerated Warehouse

Overview

The United States Cold Storage (USCS) is one of the leading providers of
advanced and innovative refrigerated storages and other warehouse related
services in North America. With a diverse and an expanding customer base in
several states, USCS seeks to develop new methods of handling heat loss in
warehouses. Our task was to study the effects of wall thickness and R-value
on heat loss and the cost.

Objectives

Our objective was to create an Excel spreadsheet that receives user-defined inputs, and then outputs calculations relating to thermal and financial analyses of the company’s cold-storage warehouses.

Approach

– Do some research on heat transfer processes on walls using textbooks and ASHRAE handbook

– Conduct thorough study on a sample heat load calculator provided by the sponsor

– Organize weekly meetings to distribute tasks among group members

– Participate in web-conferences with the sponsor to get feedback on our progress

– Visit a nearby USCS warehouse to gain a deeper insight on the workings of a warehouse

– Construct the heat load portion of the calculator by using appropriate formulas

– Add the financial estimations after obtaining insulation material costs

– Validate the thermal calculator by a similar textbook problem

Outcomes

– A fully functioning thermal calculator with both heat & financial
analysis sections

-Ability to estimate the optimum value of wall thickness that ensures
minimal heat loss while maintaining low operating cost