Air Curtains Integrity When Misusing the Refrigerated Display Cabinets

Abstract: Tilted air curtains are used as barriers between two environments of different temperature, humidity and quality and are the core elements in Refrigerated display cabinets. Energy consumption and performance became the concern of end users of cabinets as the Entrainment of one environment Fluid (air) into the curtain by shear layer mixing contributes to both the sensible and the latent heat load on the other environment and the impingement of the air curtain formed. Obstructions of any type on the path of the air curtain endanger its integrity. Protrusion present in the direction of the flow impacts the performance of the air curtain and defeats its purpose of existence. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software method is used to evaluate the impact of such intentional and non intentional obstructions, on the performance of the air curtain formed by the tilted jet plane and is also validated by comparing the CFD calculations results with experimental results. Qualitative design combination of various geometrical parameters and various levels of obstruction in the direction of the flow(s) are proposed in order to guarantee the existence of the air curtain