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40 FEDA News & Views Redefining the standard... Globe Food Equipment Co. www.globefoodequip.com | 800.347.5423 F l o o r M i x e r s Visit us at NAFEM Booth 6233 Foster Frable continued can be sized for future expansion with- out wasting any energy as they only draw what is required for the specific load. Some systems can adjust a medi- um-temperature compressor to operate at low temperatures in an emergency, eliminating the need for a spare low- temperature compressor on smaller (budget) systems. A traditional parallel rack makes eco- nomic sense when the total load is 12 HP or greater. A large refrigeration manufacturer is developing a variety of new protocol refrigeration rack systems (called MRXD) targeted specifically at small format stores. These systems will be ideal for foodservice because they can support installations with loads of only 4 HP based on using two 2 HP compressors. One of the MRXD options is an exterior one-piece rack that can be set on a pad just outside a C-Store or res- taurant. Service cost for a rack mounted on a pad is about 25 percent less than roof-mounted racks. Almost every refrigeration rack sys- tem can communicate to building and energy management systems today. The new generation of rack systems also integrates behavior management (called BMS systems), which uses algorithms to reduce human variables that influ- ence reliability and energy consumption. Examples: informing operators when doors are ajar or lights left on, turning on interior lights when a cooler door is open, and monitoring when coils are clogged. While racks provide a solution to regulatory compliance and are avail- able in smaller sizes, they don't solve every potential application. An alter- nate solution to parallel racks is Micro- Distributed Systems (MDS). These sys- tems use a pump station to pipe chilled water or glycol from a chiller to mini- water cooled condensers on each appli- ance. Unlike a large chilled or condenser water system, these units work on lower pressures that allow installers to use PEX (Cross-linked polyethylene) tubing that bends and flexes and is less expensive than copper. Using water or glycol versus refriger- ants also allows for quick disconnects that facilitate rearranging or replacing, equipment which is a big issue with traditional hard-copper-piped systems. With quick disconnects, there is ser- vice flexibility and ease of replacement. These systems are applicable for most types of refrigeration, including freezers. Typically coils within display cases that are meant to use glycol as a cooling fluid are modified to limit pressure drop of the (glycol) fluid instead of coils that are meant to use a refrigerant like R404A. The inspiration (and much of the information) for this article resulted from a refrigeration seminar I attended in November, 2014, and my decades- long experience in foodservice did not prepare me for the complexity of the changes to come in the refrigeration industry. Fasten your seatbelts.