UK-FORMULA 1 REFRIGERATION F1 technology could cut supermarket emissions

Record ID: 150067

  • Title: UK-FORMULA 1 REFRIGERATION F1 technology could cut supermarket emissions
  • Date: 4th June 2015
  • Summary: BUCKINGHAM, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 12, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WILLIAMS' TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, PAUL McNAMARA, DEMONSTRATING HOW AEROFOIL TECHNOLOGY WORKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) WILLIAMS' TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, PAUL McNAMARA, SAYING: "The way we've got these fridges set up at the moment is that we've got this small gap between the shelf and the first design of aerofoil and the idea
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7V821TEM4HFC2KAJ5K0JB64M3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Formula One's cutting-edge aerodynamic technology is moving into the supermarket chill cabinet.
    Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the Formula One team, have partnered with start-up Aerofoil Energy to develop a plastic device that clips onto an existing shelf to save money and energy by keeping more cold air inside open-fronted refrigerators.
    Such multi-deck appliances account for a significant proportion of supermarket operating costs, with cold air spilling out into the aisles.
    Williams said their aerofoil system, modelled with computation fluid dynamics and tested at their F1 factory in Oxfordshire in central England, can be attached onto each refrigerator shelf to redirect the air flow.
    Sainsbury's, Britain's second largest supermarket chain with 1,100 stores, is among retailers testing the product.
    Williams' technical director, Paul McNamara, said their aerofoil system consists of a small metal strip placed a few inches in front of a supermarket refrigeration shelf which catches cold air escaping the unit and deflecting it to the shelf below, reducing the amount of energy lost. A second, updated aerofoil design has a curved ridge facing towards the unit, to increase the amount of cold air deflected.
    "The way we've got these fridges set up at the moment is that we've got this small gap between the shelf and the first design of aerofoil and the idea is the cold air comes off the shelf, we catch it and it rolls down to the next one," said McNamara. "So the new aerofoil which we're using, that we made back in Williams, will substitute for what we've got here and we've given it a very clean aerofoil shape that we've developed and we can test it to develop the angle that's going to work best to get that cold air going back into the shelf below."
    McNamara said the fact that the design could be retrofitted to any open-fronted supermarket cooler was particularly significant. "The really great thing about this invention is that it doesn't have to go into the base of the fridge," he said. "We can put it on the front of the existing stock of fridges around the UK, so it has the potential so we can roll it out across the complete supermarket network."
    Williams estimate that supermarkets and convenience stores accounted for some five to 10 percent of Britain's total energy use, with 60-70 percent of that energy consumed by refrigerators. It said tests of the aerofoils had produced energy savings ranging from 18 to 41.5 percent.
    "Back in the lab at Williams we've got a test fridge and we're making a lot if measurements about what we can achieve," said McNamara. "So the savings we've shown in the lab are very considerable indeed, and we'll be looking at a very big improvement in electricity consumption. But what we've got to do is test that out in a real consumer environment here in a working store, so we're working closely with Sainsbury's to validate that number and get as good a number as we can."
    Aerofoils help the airflow around Formula One cars and can improve their performance. McNamara said the refrigeration device was one of many projects in which Williams researchers have adapted a technology originally used in F-1 cars. "We at Williams are trying to take everything that we're doing in Formula One and look for applications outside Formula One, because we've got absolutely great facilities there in terms of the computational methods, the prototyping methods, and the people we employ. So we've set up our team to look around for opportunities where we can assist, bring Formula One technology to the market place, and come up with great ideas like this," he said.
    A single 30,000 sq ft (2,787 sq m) supermarket reportedly uses up to 1.5 million kWh of energy a year. Williams hopes it can help drastically reduce that figure.
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