{"id":19278,"date":"2024-04-23T10:39:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T08:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=19278"},"modified":"2024-04-23T10:40:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T08:40:02","slug":"picknpay-distribution-center-south-africa-axicool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/picknpay-distribution-center-south-africa-axicool_19278\/","title":{"rendered":"The largest cold chamber in Africa: Distri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion center pick n pay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Visible from the windows of planes approaching O.R. Tambo Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Airport from the north is what is likely the largest roof in the southern hemi\u00adsphere. 279 meters wide and 411 meters long, it spans the main hall of the distri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion center, which was completed in 2023 in the East\u00adport Logis\u00adtics Park on the outskirts of Johan\u00adnes\u00adburg. If you add up all the sections of the building, the mega struc\u00adture covers an area of 165,000 square meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For fans of South Africa\u2019s national sport, that\u2019s enough space for 16 rugby pitches. However, the elegantly curved roof conceals merchan\u00addise for the Pick n Pay super\u00admarket chain, which is stored and distrib\u00aduted to stores from here. Founded in 1966, the company oper\u00adates a total of 2,204 stores in eight African coun\u00adtries and employs 90,000 people. To ensure that the food doesn\u2019t spoil and customers only receive fresh prod\u00aducts, a 46,000 square meter area of the distri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion center is refrig\u00ader\u00adated. The area is divided into two climate zones. One zone has a constant temper\u00ada\u00adture of 14 degrees Celsius, the other is at 2 degrees Celsius. It is impor\u00adtant that the temper\u00ada\u00adture is constant and evenly distrib\u00aduted throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large area, big chal\u00adlenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Total surface area:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

0<\/span> m2<\/sup><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Actual cooling area:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

0<\/span> m2<\/sup><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Engi\u00adneering achieve\u00adment from South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AMC Engi\u00adneers was commis\u00adsioned to design the cooling system. The engi\u00adneering firm from Cape Town special\u00adizes in cooling systems for food processing compa\u00adnies and is very familiar with the very high hygiene stan\u00addards and require\u00adments that apply with regard to fresh air, filtra\u00adtion, humidity and temper\u00ada\u00adture. Reflecting on the project\u2019s scale, Andrew Minnaar, the director at AMC respon\u00adsible for the project, says: \u201cThe cooling prin\u00adciple itself is nothing new for us, but what was special were the huge dimen\u00adsions of the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMC was not only entrusted with the design of the system, but was also respon\u00adsible for selecting the manu\u00adfac\u00adturer and suppliers. For Minnaar, it was clear early on that EC fans should be used in the refrig\u00ader\u00adated blower coils. \u201cThe cooling runs day and night, so low energy consump\u00adtion is crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AxiCool fans impress with their high air perfor\u00admance and large throw range. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ebm-papst in refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion tech\u00adnology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With its wide range of prod\u00aducts, ebm-papst offers the ideal solu\u00adtion for every perfor\u00admance range and every refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion appli\u00adca\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read more <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leading the pack in cooling tech\u00adnology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So Minnaar turned to Fran\u00adcois Schoombie, Tech\u00adnical Manager, and Stephen Fried\u00admann, Sales Director at ebm-papst South Africa who often handled appli\u00adca\u00adtions like this \u2013 albeit on a smaller scale. They quickly real\u00adized that AxiCool fans could be the right solu\u00adtion: \u201cOur engi\u00adneers devel\u00adoped these specif\u00adi\u00adcally for cooling in the food sector. The surfaces are designed to prevent dirt from settling on them so that hygiene stan\u00addards can be main\u00adtained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low noise level is an addi\u00adtional plus point, as one of the require\u00adments was that employees should still be able to talk while the system was running. Since the cooling units are attached to the ceiling, weight was also a key crite\u00adrion. This is another area where AxiCool scores highly thanks to its plastic construc\u00adtion and the asso\u00adci\u00adated low weight. But the clinching factor was the fans\u2019 air throw because the dimen\u00adsions of the hall meant that very long distances had to be covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrig\u00adi\u00adnally, we planned three rows of blower coil units each, mounted evenly on the ceiling across the entire width of the hall. But as the AxiCool fans are so powerful, two rows were suffi\u00adcient. Of course, this also meant that we saved on cable runs and a whole lot of cable,\u201d says Minnaar. Thanks to inte\u00adgrated guide vanes, the ebm-papst fans can easily cover a distance of 43 to 45 meters. A total of 86 cooling units were installed on the ceiling, each with four AxiCool fans \u2013 making 344 fans alto\u00adgether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easy instal\u00adla\u00adtion and moni\u00adtoring<\/h2>\n\n\n
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The inte\u00adgrated MODBUS inter\u00adface enables numerous moni\u00adtoring and control func\u00adtions to be carried out in real time via the epCloud. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

HC Heat Exchangers built the systems itself, based on the appro\u00adpriate refrig\u00aderant combi\u00adna\u00adtions and selec\u00adtions by AMC, glycol, as an envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtally friendly secondary refrig\u00aderant was selected for various reasons. HC, the leading provider of heating, venti\u00adlation, air condi\u00adtioning and refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion solu\u00adtions in Africa has also been working with ebm-papst for many years. Gert van Rooyen, Lead Appli\u00adca\u00adtions Engi\u00adneer at HC, explains: \u201cWe really like the prod\u00aducts. We are always looking to make things better and more effi\u00adcient, because that is part of what we want to be as a company: solving prob\u00adlems for the future, not just for the present.\u201d Besides effi\u00adciency, the manu\u00adfac\u00adturer partic\u00adu\u00adlarly appre\u00adci\u00adates the built-in MODBUS commu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions inter\u00adfaces combined with the EC motors, which make it possible to conve\u00adniently monitor every single fan and control it as required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith such a large number of fans, it\u2019s not imme\u00addi\u00adately obvious if one is faulty. Espe\u00adcially when they are hanging at a height of up to 18 meters and are diffi\u00adcult to reach. It\u2019s a big advan\u00adtage if you can monitor their status in real time on a computer,\u201d says Van Rooyen. Minnaar from AMC is also happy with the overall result: \u201cThe end customer is very satis\u00adfied with the system and the system works reli\u00adably.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visible from the windows of planes approaching O.R. Tambo Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Airport from the north is what is likely the largest roof in the southern hemi\u00adsphere. 279 meters wide and 411 meters long, it spans the main hall of the distri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion center, which was completed in 2023 in the East\u00adport Logis\u00adtics Park on the outskirts of [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-refrigeration-ventilation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19278"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19525,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19278\/revisions\/19525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}