Experimental and numerical study of air curtains in refrigerated display cabinets

The analysis of air curtains in refrigerated display cabinets (RDC), in slanted and straight shelf configurations, has been carried out using experimental and numerical methods. Flow visualization was utilised to qualitatively analyze the air curtain and its behaviour and Laser Doppler Velocimetry was used to gather quantitative information on the velocity profiles of the air curtain at different heights. Temperature probes were used to gain the experimental temperature values around the cabinet to use for boundary conditions in a CFD model. 3D and 2D models were developed to numerically analyze slanted and straight configurations of the RDC in both transient and steady state simulations. It was shown that 2D simulations can be utilized for the numerical modeling of RDC as they are superior in computational time comparing with 3D simulations and produce results with sufficient accuracy. Slanted and straight shelf configurations have been shown to affect the air curtain via a number of significant mechanisms that effect entrainment and efficiency of the RDC