Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83

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Applied Thermal Engineering

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The art of air blast freezing: Design and efficiency considerations

Patrick Dempsey, Pradeep Bansal*,1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag e 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Air blast freezing is a common freezing technique used throughout the world to freeze various food
Received 16 March 2011 commodities from carcasses to packaged goods. The New Zealand Cold Storage industry identified blast
Accepted 6 December 2011 freezing as the most energy intensive operation in the frozen food storage industry, consuming 8.1 GWh
Available online 13 December 2011
of electricity in New Zealand in 2005. This paper presents an overview of various types of blast freezers,
their common design flaws, common energy saving measures and a best practice guide. A simulation
Keywords:
model has also been presented to predict the performance and to design an optimal system under range
Blast freezer
of operating conditions.
Batch
Carton
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Refrigeration
Low temperature
Energy
Efficiency

1. Introduction
Air blast freezing is the process of taking a product at
a temperature (usually chilled but sometimes at ambient temper-
ature) and freezing it rapidly, between 12 and 48 h, to its desired
storage temperature which varies from product to product (e.g.
fish ¼ 20  C, beef ¼ 18  C). Typically, the evaporator tempera-
ture in a blast freezer refrigeration system ranges between 35  C
and 52  C. Slow freezing produces large ice crystals, which grow
through cell walls, permitting an accelerated penetration of oxygen,
causing rancidity and browning of meat and enhancing the danger
of higher drip on thawing. Therefore, rapid freezing is required to
maintain food quality as it produces small ice crystals due to
a higher number of nucleation points from which ice crystals form.
Air Blast freezing is classified as a forced convection phenom-
enon where the use of fans increases the products surface heat
transfer coefficient and produces a more uniform air temperature
throughout the freezer. The air velocity, and hence heat transfer
coefficient, can be altered with the use of variable speed drives
(VSD’s). The main detriment of forced convection in blast freezers is
the use of large fans that add significantly to the total heat load on
the refrigeration system and running costs. Also, unwrapped foods
* Corresponding author. Current address: Building Equipment Program, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, P O Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN37831-6067, USA. Tel.: þ1
865 576 7376.
E-mail address: p.bansal@auckland.ac.nz (P. Bansal).
1
Tel.: þ1865 576 7376.
are prone to moisture loss during blast freezing as the absolute
humidity of the bulk air is usually lower than that of the air at the
surface of the food.
Although air blast freezers have been used in industry since the
1950’s, limited number of technical studies have been published on
specific aspects of the topic in the open literature [1,3,12,24,26,
31,42,51,52], and there is hardly any study that summarises all
aspects of blast freezers at one point in a single study. Therefore, this
paper presents an overview of blast freezers of their working prin-
ciple, historical background, different designs, efficiency issues,
a modelling perspective and a best practice guide.
2. Origin of air blast freezers
The early freezing rooms typically consisted of bare pipe grids in
the ceiling above rails on which sheep carcasses and beef quarters
were hung. These freezing rooms relied on the natural convection of
cold air, typically around 15  C, and resulted in freezing times up to
three days. Following World War II the world faced a serious food
shortage. A major New Zealand innovation was the air blast freezer
which enabled rapid freezing for high export quantities. The air blast
freezer used fans to blow air at low temperatures (down to 30  C)
over carcasses reducing freezing times to between 10 and 24 h. This
ability to freeze and transport food to distant markets made
refrigeration a highly profitable trade and in fact made New Zealand
one of the richest countries in the world in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
The New Zealand company Ellis Hardie Syminton Ltd patented
the A189 air-blast freezer in about 1950 [1]. The concept was to use

1359-4311/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2011.12.013
72 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
finned surface evaporators to cool the air and large fans to direct
the refrigerated air over the carcasses. During the 1950’s blast
freezing became the dominant method of freezing worldwide and
the fundamental principles of carcass freezing changed little over
the next 50 years. Prior to the 1950’s the beef trade was dominated
by quarter beef carcasses. The emergence of the hamburger in
America opened a new market for frozen boneless beef suitable for
direct processing. In response to the new boneless product
demand, Ellis Hardie Syminton Ltd in conjunction with Bill
Freeman constructed the world’s first continuous carton freezer for
27.2 kg beef cartons near Palmerston North (New Zealand). The
freezer blew refrigerated air as low as 40  C at a velocity around
3 m/s over the cartons and achieved freezing times of 24 h.
Over the next 20e30 years, the air-blast freezer became universal
in the New Zealand frozen food industry. Several variations were
developed, including cross flow and vertical air flow systems and
there was a move from batch to continuous production for larger
through puts and reduced labour costs. By the 1980’s, energy effi-
ciency became an important design parameter. Many potential
energy saving initiatives were investigated in terms of both the
refrigeration system and the system as a whole. Such energy saving
initiatives included: improved air flow design by altering the
product stacking arrangement and the use of baffles and turning
vanes, varying the air velocities at different times throughout the
freezing process and the effect of product packaging on freezing
times. The easiest and most advantageous energy saving device
today is the use of variable speed drives (VSD’s) on evaporator fans.
3. Why blast freeze?
The killing of bacteria is largest in the range 4  C to 10  C due
to ‘cold-shock,’ where their metabolism is disturbed, even stopped.
When the freezing rate is slow, the bacteria have time to adapt to
the new conditions, hence food needs to be frozen quickly.
There are various methods available for food freezing, these
include: air-blast freezers (batch and continuous), fluidised bed
freezers, impingement freezers, liquid immersion freezers, plate
freezers, liquid nitrogen freezers and carbon dioxide freezers. The
major advantage of the air blast freezer is its versatility. Since air is
a low viscosity fluid it has the ability to easily follow around
irregular surface geometries, thus providing a more uniform
freezing rate over the whole product. Other freezing methods such
as plate freezing (contact freezing) offer faster cooling times [2] but
can only be used with products of a suitable geometry, i.e. a flat
surface to match the plate bed.
4. Types of air freezers
Air is the most widely used method of freezing food as it is
economical, hygienic and relatively non-corrosive to equipment [4].
Various forms of air blast freezers are used in industry [5e16].
1. Sharp freezer: or blast room freezer is a cold storage room that
relies on natural convection and low air movement from
evaporator fans to circulate the cooling air resulting in slow
freezing times. This arrangement is sometimes used for bulk
products like butter, beef-quarters and fish, but not for pro-
cessed food products.
2. Tunnel freezers: the refrigerated air is circulated by large fans
over the product confined in an insulated closed room. Meat
carcasses are supported by hooks suspended from a conveyor
or specially designed racks. The trays or spacers are arranged to
provide an air space between each layer of trays. The air can
either be cross flow or counter flow, depending on the type of
tunnel freezer. Various forms of tunnel freezers exist including:
2a Batch Freezers: the product is stacked on pallets, or hung
from hooks on slide rails in the case of carcasses, and
loaded into the freezer using fork hoists. This is an on/off
process where the freezer is loaded, run until the meat is
frozen to its desired temperature, then pumped down and
switched off for unloading. Batch blast freezers are suit-
able for small quantities of varied products [17]. Typically,
the heat transfer coefficient is less than 50 W/m2 K (Fig. 1).
2b Mechanised freezers: the pallet racks are fitted with casters
or wheels. The racks or trolleys are usually moved on rails
by a pushing mechanism, usually hydraulically powered.
Such mechanised tunnel freezers are known as push-
through tunnels or carrier freezers which have two tiers,
one on top of the other. These freezers are designed
primarily for packaged goods, as well as carcasses.
Advantages of mechanised freezers over batch freezers
include: improved air circulation over the product as it
moves at a steady rate through the tunnel; labour costs
are considerably decreased as pallets are not manually
placed in the freezer; and there is added flexibility of the
facility by varying the freezing time with the speed of the
ram [18]. Heat transfer coefficients in mechanised freezers
are similar to batch freezers being less than 50 W/m2 K.
2c Belt freezers: the product is loaded on a continuous
conveyor belt. Modern belt freezers usually employ
vertical air flow to force air between the product items
creating good contact with the product. Typically, the heat
transfer coefficient of belt freezers varies between 25 and
80 W/m2 K. Multi belt freezers offer the advantage of
smaller floor space compared to single belt freezers. There
are several forms of belt freezers:
i) Multi-tier belt freezers: consist of several conveyor
systems positioned one above the other with fans and
coils positioned above the top belt. The air flow in belt
freezers can either be vertical or horizontal over the
product. The most efficient flow is determined by the
product characteristics, dimensions, packed or
unpacked, as well as degree of processing and
composition.
ii) Spiral belt freezers: where the belt is coiled in numerous
revolutions around one vertical central axis to optimise
the use of floor space. The belt can stack 30 tiers or
Fig. 1. Schematic of a typical batch air blast freezer.
 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
more, one above the other thus reducing floor space to
a minimum. Spiral freezing is one of the most currently
used methods in the freezing industry for large
production needs due to its convenience, reduced floor
space, flexibility and efficiency [19] (Fig. 2).
3. Fluidised bed freezers are used to freeze particulate foods of
uniform size and shape such as peas, cut corn, diced carrots,
and strawberries. The foods are placed on a mesh conveyor belt
and moved through a freezing zone in which cold air is directed
upward through the mesh belt and the food particulates begin
to tumble and float. This tumbling exposes all sides of the food
to the cold air, thus the product is individually quick frozen
(IQF). Typically, heat transfer coefficients range from 110 to
160 W/m2K (Fig. 3).
4. Impingement jet freezers are straight-belt freezers involving
only one step where the top, or more generally, both faces of
the product receive very high velocity air at low temperature
via uniformly distributed nozzles. The jets break the stagnant
boundary layer surrounding the product, leading to a consid-
erable increase in the heat-transfer coefficient, up to
300 W/m2 K. The performance is comparable to cryogenic
freezers in relation to freezing time and weight, but at a much
lower cost (typically half the price).
Table 1 summarises the characteristics and operating parame-
ters of the freezers described above. The cooling air temperature for
each freezers ranges between 30 and 45  C. With similar cooling
air temperatures, it is the air velocity over the product that is the
main factor affecting the heat transfer coefficient.
5. Products blast frozen
Typical products frozen in air blast freezers include but are not
limited to:
 Meat e carcasses, cartons, large individually wrapped cuts,
cured or processed, hamburger patties
 Poultry e whole bird or pieces, processed or breaded products
 Fish e whole or eviscerated, fillets or small diced pieces, pro-
cessed or breaded products, shellfish, prawns and shrimp
 Fruits e small size (whole), large size (sliced), purée or pulp
 Vegetables e small and medium size, leafy
 Other e Cheese and butter, dough, bread and baked products,
pre-cooked ready meals
Selecting which freezing method to use is usually determined by
quality specifications, economics and availability. Each food
product has its own unique characteristics which determine their
appropriate freezing temperature and freezing rate. Seafood, such
as prawns, requires faster freezing rates than red meat to maintain
their texture and taste. As such, prawns are suited to Individual
Fig. 2. Schematic of a typical spiral belt freezer.
73
Fig. 3. Schematic of a fluidised bed freezer.
Quick Freezing (IQF) methods such as fluidised bed freezers. Red
meat however, does not require IQF freezing methods to maintain
quality and can be adequately frozen in tunnel freezers.
6. Packaging
It is common practice to freeze meat or fish products in their
transport packaging. Packaging is important in air blast freezing as
it prevents dehydration, freezer burn and adherence by freezing
and oxidation. The detriment of packaging is a decrease in heat
transfer and hence an increase in the freezing time due to the
insulating properties of the packing material and excess enclosed
air. Fig. 4 shows a typical temperature versus time graph of pack-
aged and unpackaged meat products in an air-blast freezer.
Fig. 4 clearly illustrates the increased freezing time as a result of
packaging. Stage 1 refers to the sensible cooling from the product
inlet temperature (usually chilled) to freezing, stage 2 the latent
heat extracted during crystallisation and stage 3 the sensible
cooling from the freezing temperature to the desired storage
temperature. Table 2 shows the heat transfer resistance of pack-
aging for frozen beef and fish. It may be noted from the Table that
the heat transfer resistance due to packaging can account for up to
59% of the total resistance when fish is the product being frozen. For
beef, the portion of heat transfer resistance from packaging is less
at 38%, but still significant.
Food Packaging must perform three functions: i) Control the
local environmental conditions to enhance storage life. This is
usually met by the packaging layer closest to the food. Typical
examples include sealed plastic film and tin-plated cans. ii) Display
the product in an attractive manner for the potential buyer.
iii) Protect the product during handling and transit. Corrugated
cardboard is commonly used which unfortunately is a very good
insulator. To reduce freezing times, cartons should use single layer
cardboard with a high heat transfer coefficient on the top and
bottom as this is where the surface area is largest.
7. Air blast freezer operation and design
Air blast freezers are designed to supply cool air over the food
product with a uniform air velocity throughout the freezer [23e28].
Most operation problems are related to improper positioning of the
pallet or cart in the freezer [29]. Therefore, it is imperative the
pallets and products are stacked in such a way that the air is free to
move over the entire product. The stacking method must enable
the cold air to circulate between the trays or boxes unhindered. For
carton freezing, a spacer up to 70 mm should be implemented to
allow sufficient air velocity between cartons [30]. Boast [18]
recommends an air space equal to approximately 50% of the
product thickness. Air temperature must be at least 35  C, and in
some cases 45  C [31]. This equates to a refrigerant evaporation
temperature of 42  C and 52  C respectively.
74 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83

Table 1
Summary of forced convection freezing methods.

Freezer type Product
Batch tunnel Useful for all foods but better for
bulk items, particularly carcasses
Continuous Useful for all foods but better for 1.5e6 m/s
tunnel bulk items. Mainly suited to
packaged product due to hygiene
issues
Spiral Suitable for most foods, packaged or 3e8 m/s
unpackaged e.g. poultry, red meat,
sea, bakery product
Fluidised bed IQF small products, .5e5 cm
diameter, e.g. peas, French fries,
shrimp, scallops, diced meat, meat
balls
Impingement IQF. Meat patties, fish fillets,
shrimp, French fries. Product
thickness typically 0e25 mm1
a
Heat transfer coefficient.
Air velocity H.T.Ca W/m2 C Capacity Advantages Disadvantages
1.5-6 m/s h < 50 [20] 1e80 tonnes
i) Low capital cost i) Long freezing times
Typically z 4 m/s ii) Versatile, can accommodate ii) Relatively low H.T.C
various product geometries
h < 50 [20] 1000e20,000 i) Reduction in down time as i) Requires additional space
Typically z 4 m/s kg/hr the freezer is not stopped for ii) Reduced freezing capacity
loading/unloading due to frost on evap. coils
ii) Flexible with freezing times
h z 25e80 500e6000 kg/hr i) Compact i) More expensive than tunnel
[21] ii) Capable of IQF freezers
iii) Higher efficiency than ii) Hygiene issues
tunnel
z30 m/s h z 110e160 100e20,000 i) Very fast freezing times, i) Only suitable for small
[21] kg/hr comparable to cryogenic only products of fairly uniform
cheaper shape and size
ii) High efficiency
10e100 m/s h z 250e350 Depends on i) Reduced moisture loss i) Only suitable for products
Typically z 40 m/s [21] application, ii) Very fast freezing times, of small thickness
can be up to similar to cryogenic
1200 kg/h

There are several optimum air velocities that are used for tunnel
blast freezers in the open literature, depending upon the particular
product being frozen; however, the generally accepted value is 4 m/
s. Although increasing the air velocity will increase surface heat
transfer coefficient, it does not necessarily reduce cooling time due
to the increased heat load from the fans because fan power, W f V3.
This increase in fan power increases the running cost usually
rendering the increased fan speed uneconomical when compared
to slower speeds. Furthermore Kolbe et al [32] showed that
increasing the air velocity above 5 m/s only barely increased the
freezing rate. This is because partway through the freezing cycle
when the surface layers are frozen, the rate of heat transfer is
increasingly controlled by the internal conduction resistance, i.e.
the Biot number becomes large.
When sizing evaporators for tunnel blast freezers, a frost build-
up factor must be considered with fin spacing of no more than 4
fins per inch [34]. When air coolers are mounted above a false
ceiling, logarithmically spaced air deflectors can be installed to help
deflect the air through the 90 turns and help distribute a uniform
airflow over the products.
Modern spiral freezer designs eliminate any type of structure
and belt support and each tier is supported directly on the previous
one (self-stacking belt). The temperature of the refrigerated air is
below 30  C, generally being closer to 40  C, with a circulation
velocity ranging from 3 to 8 m/s. In simple designs the air flow
direction relative to the belt can be horizontal, parallel or vertical
(both upwards and downwards). Further design improvements
implementing the use of baffles and flow dividers can provide air
flow vertically upwards through the lower half of the stack and
downwards through the upper half (controlled dual flow). This
balances the heat transfer on the two sides of the food, and slightly
decreases freezing time and weight loss.
The current state of the art developments are focused on
impingement freezers, dual air systems [35] and improving the air
flow distribution throughout air blast freezers with the aid of
computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Various studies [36e43] with
CFD application to air blast freezers have been performed in the
open literature. CFD delivers detailed information e both in time
and space e of the flow field, the temperature and moisture
distribution, the shear forces and the heat fluxes. Furthermore,
computer visualisation gives a direct insight in the process, which
allows a fast interpretation of any possible problem. Finally, the
model-based procedure allows the evaluation of many what if
scenarios at little cost compared to the process of prototyping.
8. Product geometry

Product geometry plays a significant role in determining

freezing time. Most meat plants use a standard carton depth of
160e165 mm. A reduction in carton depth can significantly reduce
freezing time. The most important areas of the carton are the top

Table 2
Heat transfer resistance of packaging [22].

Heat transfer resistance (m2K/W)

Source of heat transfer resistance Frozen fish Frozen beef

Convective boundary layer external to .04 .04
carton
Carton wall .06 .02
Nominal 1 mm layer of trapped air .04 .04
between carton and product
Product itself between surface and .03 .06
geometric centre
Total .17 .16
Heat transfer resistance due to 59 38
Fig. 4. Freezing curves for packaged and unpackaged meat product in an air blast
packaging system (%)
freezer.
 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
and bottom as this is where the surface area and hence the heat
transfer is largest.
A New Zealand meat company decided, for logistic purposes,
that the base dimension of their meat cartons should be the same.
To maintain a constant weight for each carton, the carton’s height
was varied to cater for different product densities. Cleland [22]
investigated the effects of the different carton heights on freezing
time and found freezing time varied between a linear and
a quadratic relationship with height if the air convection heat
transfer coefficient was unchanged. The tall cartons obstructed the
air flow channels in the freezer more than the short cartons, thus
they had less air flow over them.
Tan et al. [44] set out to determine the factors affecting the
freezing process of tilapia fillets of different geometries. A numer-
ical model based on the continuity equation, momentum equations
and energy equation was developed. Five different geometries of
equal mass were tested, three fish cakes and two spherical: slab,
elliptical, disc, spherical and cylindrical respectively. The freezer’s
air velocity was set at 5 m/s and temperature at 35  C.
The three fish cakes had very similar freezing times ranging
from 1.167 (disc) to 1.233 h (slab) due to their similar thickness and
surface area. The freezing time for the sphere was 3.7e3.9 times
longer than that of the flat shaped fillets due to the difference in
surface area and distance from surface to centre. The cylindrical
shaped fillets produced the longest freezing time of 5 h.
9. Single and two stage air blast freezers
Schematic of a two-stage carton blast freezer operating in New
Zealand is shown in Fig. 5. The system consists of a 63 kW Vilter
VMC-440 two-stage compressor with desuperheating and sub-
Fig. 5. Schematic of a two-stage carton blast freezer operating in New Zealand.
75
cooling, a Miller air cooled condenser with five pressure
controlled fans, receiver, suction accumulator with sub-cooling,
two 4.0 kW fixed speed evaporator fans, two custom made four
pass evaporators and seven Danfoss expansion valves. Six of the
expansion valves, rated at 10.2 kW, are used on the evaporators
(three per evaporator), the remaining valve is used for the inter-
cooling. The system uses refrigerant R22.
The pressure enthalpy (P-h) diagram for the two-stage blast
freezer system shown in Fig. 5, is shown in Fig. 6, with actual data
taken from the site, where the advantage of two-stage compression
and sub-cooling is illustrated vividly on the P-h diagram in Fig. 6 (a)
with reduced compressor work and an increased evaporator
capacity.
The volumetric efficiency of a reciprocating compressor is
inversely proportional to the compression ratio. The ability of the
two-stage system to split the evaporating and condensing pressure
difference over two stages means the compressors are operating
with a lower pressure ratio, thus a higher volumetric efficiency
than the single-stage system. Furthermore, by desuperheating the
LSC discharge refrigerant the HSC discharge temperature is lower
than the single-stage compressor. This means the two-stage system
is less prone to oil breakdown and fatigue on compressor compo-
nents. Intercooling the liquid line enables the refrigerant to enter
the evaporator at a lower quality. Since the heat transfer coefficient
of a two-phase mixture is significantly higher than the vapour,
intercooling the evaporator leads to higher heat transfer coefficient
than that of the single-stage system, thereby, increasing the evap-
orator efficiency.
Fig. 7 shows an older system, installed in approximately 1980.
This is a single-stage system consisting of two stand alone refrig-
eration units, Sub-System One (SS1) and Sub-System Two (SS2).
76 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83

Fig. 6. (a) Two-stage P-h diagram for system shown in Fig. 5 and (b) corresponding theoretical single-stage P-h diagram operating with the same suction and discharge pressures.

Each sub-system consists of two semi-hermetic reciprocating water for all the water cooled systems operating at the facility. The
compressors, oil separator, water cooled shell-and-tube condenser, heated water at the outlet of the condensers is returned to the
thermostatic expansion valves, evaporators and a suction accu- mains before entering the cooling tower. The water for all systems
mulator. Both systems use refrigerant R22. The freezer has eight is driven by a single centrifugal pump. SS1 has three evaporators,
4.0 kW evaporator fans and racks for suspending meat carcasses. one large and two small, each with different geometries. The large
Sub-System One has two Copelametic compressors, approxi- evaporator is fed by two TXV’s, the two small evaporators are fed by
mately 30 years old, rated at 26 kW each operating in parallel. These one TXV each. SS2 has two large evaporators each fed by two TXV’s.
compressors have older reed valves. Sub-system Two has two The COP for the two-stage and single-stage systems is respec-
DWM COPELAND compressors, approximately 10 years old, rated at tively defined by Eqs. (1) and (2))-
20.1 kW operating in parallel. These compressors have the more Two-stage Coefficient of Performance:
modern discus valves.
Both SS1 and SS2 have three pass water cooled shell-and-tube _ LSC ðh2 h1 Þ
m
condensers mounted underneath the compressor racks. The COP2stg ¼ (1)
_ LSC ðh2
m _ HSC ðh4
h1 Þ þ m h3 Þ
water cooling the condensers is fed from the mains which supplies

Fig. 7. Schematic of a single-stage carcass freezer operating in New Zealand.

 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83 77

COP2stg ¼ 1.73 calculating UA for a single tube (i.e. 1 of the 46 condenser tubes),
then multiplying the UAsingle tube by the total number of tubes, i.e.:
Single-stage Coefficient of Performance:
UASH;2Ph;SC ¼ Ntubes $UAsingle tube;SH;2Ph;SC (7)
_ ref ðh2
m h1 Þ h h1
COP1stg ¼ ¼ 2 (2) The model sequence starts by guessing the fraction of the tube
_
mref ðh1 h4 Þ h1 h4
length required to de-superheat the refrigerant, FSH (FSH (FSH < 1).
To calculate the resistance over the superheated zone, each full
COP1stg ¼ 1.30 resistance, that is the each of the five resistances over the full tube
length (Rfull), is divided by the fraction of the tube length (FSH) used
Splitting the refrigeration cycle into two stages and sub-cooling for that particular section,
resulted in 33% increase in COP from 1.30 to 1.73. The total resistance is the sum of the individual resistances. The
conductance of the superheat zone, as calculated by the model, is
10. Simulation model of the two stage system given by:

A steady state simulation model of the two-stage system was 1

UASH;model ¼ Ntubes $ (8)
developed to analyse the performance of the refrigeration System Rtotal;SH
using the Engineering Equation Solver [33] package to optimise the
where Rtotal,SH is the sum of the superheat resistances. In order to
system for maximum efficiency. The main model was based on
verify the initial guess of the superheat fraction FSH. The actual rate
individual components including Compressors, condensers, evap-
of heat transfer over the superheat section (q_ SH ) is given by:
orators etc. using equations and correlations from the open
literature. q_ SH ¼ m
_ 3 hin
 
hsat;x¼1 (9)

10.1. Compressor model The NTU conductance is calculated by:

The low and high stage compressors were modelled by the UASH;NTU ¼ NTUSH $C_ min (10)
method proposed by Popovic and Shapiro (1995), where the The model conductance UASH,model is checked against the NTU
geometry of both the low and high stage compressors was identical conductance UASH,NTU. The initial guess of the fraction of the tube
(bore, stroke, rpm etc.). The refrigerant mass flow rate is calculated length required for desuperheating, FSH, is iterated until UASH,model
by: and UASH,NTU converge. Upon convergence, the fraction of tube
1=n  length required for desuperheating is known and the process is
Pdis



u$PD repeated for the two-phase section.
_ ¼
m 1þC C (3)
60$vsuc Psuc The two-phase zone analysis starts by guessing the fraction of
where piston displacement (PD) is the volume actually swept the tube length required for full refrigerant condensation (latent
during one cycle. The clearance volume C is the refrigerant volume heat), F2Ph. The resistances are solved for the tube length L2Ph cor-
left in the cylinder after completion of the discharge process is responding to F2Ph. The refrigerant saturation temperature and the
calculated by: HSC discharge pressure are used to determine the refrigerant
properties. The average heat transfer coefficient during condensa-
Vdis tion in horizontal tubes, required to determine the refrigerant-side
C ¼ (4) resistance in the two-phase zone, is calculated using the correlation
Vsuc Vdis
suggested by Dobson and Chato [53]. The refrigerant side resistance
The compressor work is calculated by: is determined with the area corresponding to the two-phase
2 0 13 length, L2Ph. The resistances are calculated in the same manner as
n 1
n P described for the superheated region using L2Ph. The conductance of


n
_ ¼ m
W _4 Psuc vsuc @ dis
1A5 (5)
n 1 Psuc the two-phase zone, as calculated by the model, is given by:

1
The polytropic exponent n, in Eq. (5), is a function of the UA2Ph;model ¼ Ntubes $ (11)
Rtotal;2Ph
discharge specific volume (a model output), and is calculated from
experimental data. The actual rate of heat transfer over the two-phase zone, q_ 2Ph , is
calculated by:
logðPdis =Psuc Þ
n ¼ (6)
logðvdis =vsuc Þ q_ 2Ph ¼ m
_ 3 ðhx¼1 hx¼0 Þ (12)
The compressor model determines the LSC flow rate m _ 1 and the where hx¼1 and hx¼0 refer to the vapour and liquid saturation
HSC flow rate m _ 2 . The intercooler flow rate is calculated as the enthalpies respectively. The air-side capacitance rate is the
difference between the HSC and LSC flow rates. minimum capacitance rate in the condensing section as the
capacitance rate of the condensing refrigerant is effectively infinite.
10.2. Condenser model Therefore, the maximum possible heat transfer rate in the
condensing zone is:
The condenser was modelled by dividing into zones corre-
q_ max;2Ph ¼ C_ air;sat TR;sat
 
sponding to the refrigerant state (superheated, two-phase, sub- Tair;in (13)
cooled). The condenser consisted of 46 individual tubes (Ntubes) and
The NTU conductance, UA2Ph,NTU, is calculated by:
6 tube passes (Npasses).
The ε-NTU method is used to evaluate the heat exchanger
UA2Ph;NTU ¼ Ntubes C_ minNTU2Ph (14)
performance. The conductance, UA, for each zone is determined by
78 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
The initial guess of the tube length required for the two-phase
region F2Ph is iterated until UA2Ph,model and UA2Ph,NTU converge.
Upon convergence, the fraction of tube length required for phase-
change is known and the process is repeated for the sub-cooled zone.
With FSH and F2Ph known, the fraction of tube length associated
to sub-cooling is calculated by:
FSC ¼ 1 FSH F2Ph
The six resistances are calculated using the sub-cooling tube
length given by:
Ltube;SC ¼ FSC $Ltube;total
The conductance of the sub-cooled zone is calculated by:
1
UASC;model ¼ Ntubes $
Rtotal;SC
The NTU over the sub-cooling section is calculated by:
UAmodel;SC
NTUSC ¼
C_ min
The rate of heat transfer over the sub-cooling section is deter-
mined by:
q_ SC ¼ εSC C_ minðTRef ;sat Tair;in Þ
The enthalpy of the refrigerant leaving the condenser is deter-
mined by an energy balance across on the refrigerant side:
q_ SC
hout ¼ hsat;x¼0
m _3
Finally, the total rate of heat transfer across the condenser is
determined by:
q_ cond;total ¼ q_ SH q2Ph þ q_ SC
If FSC (from Eq. (15)) is less than one, the refrigerant leaves the
condenser in a saturated state. Under these conditions the refrig-
erant enthalpy at the condenser outlet is calculated in the same
manner as described for the sub-cooling zone.
10.3. Evaporator model
The two-stage blast freezer has two identical wavy fin-and-tube
evaporators with a staggered tube layout. Each evaporator has
three TXV’s with a distributor further dividing the flow into 15
tubes, i.e. 15 tubes per TXV. This equates to 45 tubes per evaporator.
Each tube has four passes.
The evaporator is modelled in the same manner as the
condenser. The evaporator is divided into zones corresponding to
the refrigerant state. The refrigerant enters the evaporator in two-
phase state and leaves superheated. The air-side heat transfer
coefficient is calculated for a six row heat exchanger, same as the
condenser. The remaining resistances are calculated for four rows.
10.4. Expansion valves model
The six evaporator expansion valves and the intercooler
expansion valve are all of the mechanically controlled thermostatic
type, TXV. The throttling of the liquid refrigerant is achieved by
assuming the expansion is enthalpic.
10.5. Intercooler model
The intercooler could not be modelled physically like the heat
exchangers because the geometric data was unavailable. Therefore,
a thermodynamic model is used to simulate the desuperheating
and sub-cooling processes of the intercooler.
Fig. 6a shows the log P-h diagram of the two-stage system with
the state points used for modelling. State points 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and the
mass flow rates m _ evap m _ evap are calculated from the
_ cond and m
compressor, condenser and expansion valve models coupled with
the evaporating and condensing pressures given as model inputs.
(15) The intermediate pressure is calculated as the geometric mean of
the condensing and evaporating pressures given by:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Pint ¼ Pevap $Pcond (22)
(16)
State point 3 is determined from the fraction of superheat x,
given by
(17)  
h3 ¼ x h2 hsat;Pint (23)
where
0<x1 (24)
(18)
The fraction of superheat x is determined from the experimental
data and can be adjusted for parametric analysis. The enthalpy at
state point 7 is determined from an energy balance across the
intercooler:
(19)
_ int ðh3
Qint ¼ m _ evap ðh2
h6 Þ ¼ m _ evap ðh5
h3 Þ þ m h7 Þ (25)
10.6. Complete system model
(20) The system model consists of the individual component models
linked together. Fig. 8 shows the flow chart of the complete system
model. The condenser model uses two loops to determine the
fraction of the tube length required for the superheat and two-
phase sections according to the condenser inlet air temperature,
(21)
air mass flow rate and the refrigerant condensing pressure. The
evaporator model has one loop used to determine the fraction of
the tube required for the two-phase section according to the freezer
air inlet temperature, air mass flow rate and the refrigerant evap-
orating pressure. The complete model has an additional loop on the
superheat to ensure the energy balance between the evaporator,
condenser and compressors is met. The model is used as a tool
to analyse the thermodynamic performance of the system
(i.e. system COP).
11. Model validation and results
The two-stage compressor model consisted of two individual
compressor models, the LSC (m _ 3 ). The compressor
_ 1 ) and HSC (m
model predicted the LSC mass flow rate to within 7% of the nine
measured mass flow rates. Similarly, the compressor model pre-
dicted the intercooler mass flow rate to within 13% of the
measured mass flow rates. The modelled condenser capacity
agreed to measured capacity to within 5% of the 13 measured data
points, as shown in Fig. 7.3 (Fig. 9).
The evaporator model was validated using the measured
refrigerant mass flow rate. The outputs of the evaporator model are
the refrigerant superheat and the outlet temperature of the air. The
modelled evaporator capacity agreed with the measured capacity
to within 4%. The system model was validated with the recorded
data from the unloaded freezer. The experimental data was
collected over a 4 h period where the evaporator load dropped from
75 kW to 45 kW. The ambient air over this period varied from
17.4  C to 19.7  C. Fig. 7.6 shows the model predicted COP against
the measured COP, where the model COP agreed to within 8% of
the 11 measured data points (Fig. 10).
 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
Fig. 8. System model flow diagram.
It was very encouraging to note that the model predicted the
evaporator air outlet temperature very accurately to within an error
of 2%. This established the accuracy and the validity of the model,
which now could be used to predict performance of a blast freezer
as well as a design tool for future blast freezers in order to achieve
higher energy efficiency.
12. Design improvements
Odey [47] investigated performance enhancing measures of
a batch air blast freezer. He found that generalised rules of thumb
have been used for the design of air flow through blast freezers.
Critical aspects of the design and implementation of the airflow
circuit are often excluded from the refrigeration contract, resulting
in poorly implemented and underperforming facilities. Typically,
the refrigeration contractor’s response to poor freezer perfor-
mance is to increase the fan capacity and power. It was found that
simply increasing the air flow by increasing fan speed did not
necessarily increase the air speed through the cartons in the
79
freezer. The higher fan speed resulted in negative velocities at the
fan inlet due to the formation of a large unstable vortex. As a result
more heat was added to the freezer from the fans thus reducing
the efficiency.
The following modifications were installed on the air blast
freezer:
 Baffling on the top and sides of the freezing chamber
 Fan inlet cone and diffuser
 Air inlet and discharge vanes on corners
 Variable speed drive on fan
Prior to the modifications the air flow entering the fan was
highly unstable with significant flow reversal. This turbulence
reduced significantly with the above modifications. Most of the
pressure drop in the unmodified freezer occurred at the 90 turning
points, whereas the modified freezer had the largest pressure drop
through the product pallets. As a result of the experiment, the
existing 11 kW fan motors drawing 8.7 kW were replaced with
80 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
Fig. 9. Comparison of the condenser model capacity against measured condenser
capacity.
3.5 kW motors drawing 4.0 kW. The fans were re-pitched from 30
to 22 to maintain drawn power within the motor capacity. After
the modifications satisfactory freezing was being achieved within
the specified 48 h turnaround period.
Kemp and Chadderton [48] performed a study on the perfor-
mance of batch blast freezers used to freeze beef cartons and found
that designs seem to be based on average product heat load which
is insufficient to handle the initial peak heat load. This problem is
especially prevalent with hot-bone meat. Insufficient cooling
capacity generally occurs at the beginning of the freezing process
when the product heat load is being released at a peak rate that far
exceeds the average rate, see Fig. 5. This problem is compounded as
very few blast freezer systems manage to maintain their design
cooling capacity (Fig. 11).
Bowater [34] states it is necessary to size evaporators at least
50% higher than the average refrigeration load for 24 h freezes to
account for the high initial heat load, while this requirement is not
so critical for 48 h freezes. Other factors effecting cooling time
include overloading of the freezers that often results in higher
cooling loads and therefore longer freezing times. Changes in
product packaging have to be taken into account when sizing air
blast freezer throughput. Mannapperuma et al. [49] found the
surface heat transfer coefficient of whole, unpackaged chickens
reduced by an order of magnitude when the chickens were wrap-
ped in plastic and stored in vented boxes. Kemp and Chadderton
Fig. 10. Comparison of model COP against measured COP.
Fig. 11. Product heat load characteristics for hot-boned and cold-boned beef cartons [47].
[48] surveyed a plant which changed the type of cardboard pack-
aging used. As a result freezing time was increased by 8 h. The
change of packaging was determined as the major cause of the
plant’s freezing problems.
The fan load in old carcass freezers can account for up to 60%
of the total refrigeration load [50]. Wee et al [51] installed
variable speed drives (VSD’s) on the fans of a 4000 lamb carcass
capacity blast freezer and reported a 44% energy saving. The
VSD was controlled by a personal computer where the program
continuously analysed data inputs such as air temperature and
calculated the optimum air flow velocity. The VSD payback
period was 2.1 years. Other benefits included a more uniform
product quality, improved power factor for the freezer fans and
minimization of product weight-loss due to the lower air
velocity. Kolbe et al [32] investigated the effects of baffling and
various fan speed control on air blast freezer performance. The
8.7 tonne capacity freezer was used for 10 kg sardine cartons.
The system had three 5.6 kW fans mounted in the false ceiling
downstream of the evaporator. Typical freezing times were
around 12.5 h.
The following modifications were applied to re-direct and
channel the air flow:
 Plywood on upper supply-side corners prevented air from
sweeping around the upper end of the ceiling structure
 The ceiling was lowered to 75 mm to reduce the gap between
ceiling and product
 Plastic sheeting on the supply-air side sealed the horizontal
corner where the near-vertical and horizontal ceilings meet,
and at the vertical corners between wall and cartons
 Floor-to-ceiling plywood sheets, installed at the start of each
freezing cycle, covered the ends of the racks and prevented
end-around by-pass
Prior to the modifications, analysis of the flow velocities showed
35% of the air went through the carton racks, 15% flowed over the
top of the racks and 50% by-passed around the two sides. Air
velocity ranged roughly from 1.5 to 4.0 m/s. After the modifications
velocities ranged from 3.0 to 4.0 m/s, hence the average velocity
through the product increased. The results of the baffling are
shown in Table 3. The baffling reduced maximum freezing time by
15%, fan energy usage by 6% and uniformity, the difference between
maximum and minimum freezing times of individual cartons,
improved significantly.
 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83 81

The second part of the experiment was to test effects of fan Table 4
speed control on both freezing time and energy use. Tests for three Results (averages) for fan loading trials [32].

fan schedules were performed: Max. time Min. time Difference Fan energy Total energy
(kWh) (kWh)
Trial 1 11.4 7.9 3.5 151 819
Trial 1 Trail 2 11.4 7.4 4 167 873
Trial 3 11.9 7.4 4.5 197 847
all 3 fans come to full speed within 45 min. After 3.5 h, the fans are
slowed to 75% speed for the remainder of the freezing period.

Trial 2  Optimise defrost frequency and duration

fans came to full speed slightly faster than trial 1. Fan speed was
halved after 7 h. Of these two trials, the first saved more energy and
would be the preferred option.
Trial 3
the three fans started at 30 min intervals. After 4 h the centre fan
was switched off, reducing fan power by 1/3. This method does not
require the use of VFDs.
The results for the three trials are shown on Table 4. Trial 1
performed the best reducing the maximum freezing time by an
hour (8%) and reduced total energy use by 22%, based on the room
performance prior to modifications.
13. Energy usage and best practice guide for blast freezing
Other measures to improve blast freezing efficiency include:
 Improve air flow design to reduce fan power for the same
effective air velocity over the product, e.g. use of air turning
vanes, flat inlet and outlet cones, baffles to prevent air flow
short circuiting away from the product
 Increase the time available to freeze the product so can operate
the freezer at lower air velocities and higher air temperatures
 Once freezing is completed, reduce fan speeds and increase
temperature set points to storage temperature until unloading
can occur
 Load product so that the air flow distribution remains uniform
throughout the freezer
 Defrost coils a short period of time after loading a batch freezer
so that the coils operate lightly frosted for most of the time

Air blast freezing consumed 8.1 GWh of electricity in New Zealand
in 2005 [45] and is the most energy intensive operation in the frozen
storage industry. Apparent energy use for blast freezing was calcu-
lated as 133 kWh/tonne from regression analysis. This is 50% higher
than the predicted value from theoretical best practice consider-
ations. The New Zealand Cold Storage Industry identified blast
freezing as an area where a 15% saving could be achieved for many
sites, particularly related to reduction in fan power due to improved
air flow design. Comparison with overseas survey results showed the
NZ use was similar on average. If all facilities surveyed met the
theoretical best practice energy consumption limit for blast freezing,
this would represent an average energy saving of 33% per tonne of
blast frozen product. This figure is supported by a survey on energy
efficiency of food refrigeration operations funded by the UK
Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(defra), who identified blast freezing as an area where a 20e30%
energy saving could be achieved [46]. The New Zealand survey
covered 13 sites that carried out blast freezing and recorded data over
the duration of at least one year. These sites have a wide range of
refrigeration systems from multi-stage pump circulation ammonia to
single-stage direct expansion fluorocarbon systems. The most
common refrigerant was ammonia, used at 71% of the sites.
The following measures were identified as potential energy
saving solutions:
Declining profit margins are forcing cold storage companies to
employ energy savings initiatives, load management strategies and
more efficient technologies. The most common energy saving
measure is the use of off-peak electricity. Variable speed drives
(VSDs) on compressors and blast freezer fans were identified as the
most easily implemented energy saving new technology. Ambient
air defrost systems are becoming more common rather than water
or hot gas.
Table 5 summarises the findings of a report on best practise
guide to industrial refrigeration produced by Sustainability
Victoria [52]. The report emphasised taking the “whole-system”
approach when designing new systems as this presents the
greatest opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency throughout
the whole process, unhindered by the constraints that may be
posed by existing equipment. The whole-system approach entails
considering the system operation as a whole rather than just
focusing on individual components as each component has flow-
on effects that impact on other components, and therefore the
efficiency of the system as a whole. The report recommends the
use of a control system that is responsive to the compressor head
pressure. Electronic expansion valves should be used where
possible and have their controls linked to the head pressure
control system.

 Reduce discharge pressure set points

 Raise suction pressure set points Table 5
 Variable speed drives (VSD’s) for fans Potential energy savings for industrial refrigeration systems [52].

 Improved door protections and management Method Potential saving

(energy, unless stated otherwise)

Electronic expansion valves 20%

Table 3 VSD on compressor motors 20%
Effect of baffling on blast freezer cell [32]. VSD condenser fans 2e3% of total refrigeration cost
Reduced temperature lift 3e4% improvement for 1  C reduction
Max. time Min. time Difference Fan energy Total energy Conversion from liquid injection Over 3%
(kWh) (kWh) to external oil coolers
Unbaffled 12.5 8.7 3.8 282 1054 Refrigeration system replacement Up to 30e40%
Baffled 10.6 9 1.6 266 924 If over 10 years old
Difference 1.9 L0.3 2.2 16 130 Refrigerant selection 3e10%
82 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83
14. Conclusions
This paper presented a snapshot of the use of blast freezers in
the food industry, including historical background, modelling
features, issues and recent advances that have enabled air blast
freezers to play a significant role in the meat industry due to their
versatility and low capital cost. There seems to be a great potential
to achieve energy savings in blast freezer industry by employing
VSD’s on fans that could result in with energy savings of up to 44%.
Other, cheaper and simpler energy saving measures include air
baffles, air turning vanes, fan inlet cone and outlet diffuser, and
improved user operating procedures.
When determining the heat load during the design process it is
insufficient to use the mean product load. The “peaky” nature of
meat, particularly hot boned meat, must be taken into account to
ensure adequate freezing times are achieved. Evaporators should
be sized 50% higher for 24 h freezers and hot boned meat. Also, the
design capacity of the freezer will deteriorate with time. It is
imperative the product is stacked with adequate spacing to enable
air to pass through; failure to do so will result in localised regions of
long freezing times.
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Nomenclature
_ LSC : low stage compressor mass flow rate, kg s 1
m
_ HSC : high stage compressor mass flow rate, kg s 1
m
hLSC,in: low stage compressor suction enthalpy, kJ/kg
hLSC,out: low stage compressor discharge enthalpy, kJ/kg
hHSC,in: high stage compressor suction enthalpy, kJ/kg
 P. Dempsey, P. Bansal / Applied Thermal Engineering 41 (2012) 71e83 83

hHSC,out: high stage compressor discharge enthalpy, kJ/kg COP2stg: two-stage coefficient of performance
h1stgC in: single-stage compressor suction enthalpy, kJ/kg COP1stg: single-stage coefficient of performance
h1stgC out: single-stage compressor discharge enthalpy, kJ/kg UA: conductance, kW/ K
hEXVin,1st: single-stage expansion valve inlet enthalpy, kJ/kg R: thermal resistance,  K/W
hEXVin,2nd: two-stage expansion valve inlet enthalpy, kJ/kg T: temperature,  K
hsat: saturation enthalpy, kJ/kg _ heat, kW
q:
ysuc: suction specific volume, m3/kg _ capacitance, kJ/ K
C:
ydis: discharge specific volume, m3/kg NTU: number of transfer units
Psuc: suction pressure, kPa x: quality
Pdis: discharge pressure, kPa F: fraction, 0  F  1
_ work (kW)
W: N: number of