Turboalgor is an innovative
Italian SME startup,
participated by Angelantoni
Group, which brings an
automotive-derived solution to the
refrigeration sector, that guarantees
energy savings up to +23% and an
increase in cooling capacity up to
+56%, at low temperatures.
Turboalgor has a clear goal: to
reduce the environmental impact
of the cold chain, which is now
responsible for almost the 20% of
world electricity consumption. This
number will grow significantly over
the next 30 years due to increasing
global temperatures, economic
development and urbanization.
Nature remains the greatest resource
for each of us, which is why it is
fundamental that technologies evolve
to impact the environment less and
less. Turboalgor takes an active part
in this ambitious project, allowing to
reduce the electricity consumptions
related to refrigeration systems and
CO2 emissions.
By applying long-established
technology in the automotive sector,
the turbocharger, Turboalgor has
patented and created a system
capable of making the compression
cycle of refrigerant fluids more
efficient, while improving the
cooling capacity of refrigeration
systems and their energy efficiency,
extending their service life, instead
of replacing them.
In the refrigeration sector there have
been no significant innovations in the
last 20 years, excluding the inverter.
Turboalgor’s innovation represents a
radical change from any other
existing energy saving solution.
Furthermore, it is also applicable in
the presence of the energy saving
technologies currently available in the
refrigeration sector.
Conventional vapor compression
refrigeration systems have an
important point of inefficiency, the
expansion valve. This takes the
coolant from a high pressure to a low
pressure and dissipates energy. By
inserting a turbocharger and two heat
exchangers, it is possible to recover
part of this energy, as well as increase
the cooling capacity of the system.
"
Turboalgor is the result of an
intuition, not of a logical process.
I made parallelisms between
automotive and refrigeration
sectors and I noticed that there
was a common problem, the
waste of energy", explains Maurizio
Ascani (pictured), Turboalgor Innovation
Technology Manager.
The product range is developed in
different combinations of absorbed
electrical power (20 kW – 300 kW)
and evaporation temperature in order
to meet the needs of those who work
along the entire cold chain, a sector
currently responsible for the 20% of
the world electricity consumption.
To date, solutions for Low and
Medium Temperature are available
on the market and Turboalgor
technology will soon be compatible
even with higher temperatures,
typical of industrial air conditioning
and process cooling. Turboalgor
technology can be applied both to existing systems, with the Stand
Alone Kit Solution, and to newly
manufactured systems, with
Integrated Solutions, where the
heart of Turboalgor technology
(right), is included directly into
the refrigeration system during its
construction.
Turboalgor technology is compatible
with HFC (freon) organic refrigerant
fluids such as R404a or similar type,
including the latest generation ones
such as R448a, R449a, R452a whose
GWP (Global Warming Potential) is
less than 2.500, and in the future
with natural refrigerants such as CO2
and NH3.
Turboalgor has already some
important references in the Food and
Refrigerated Logistic sectors, such
as Cesare Fiorucci S.p.A, Di Battista
Food Srl, and STEF Italia S.p.A with
the Stand Alone Kit and it turns to
all the companies working along the
cold chain, belonging also to different
market sectors such as GDO&Retail,
Chemical and Pharma.
"Working with Turboalgor has been a
great experience since they are trained
and professional people who have
shown maximum availability, also
collaborating with our refrigeration
technicians. I would absolutely
recommend to evaluate the product,
because with the saving that could be
obtained, the return on investment
is really interesting." Says Matteo
Bruzzano, STEF Italia Energy Manager.
It has already been developed the
first Integrated Solution with Di
Battista Food which is bringing
-9% of energy costs and +15% of
cooling power on average.
With integrated solutions there is an
optimization of both layout and costs:
the more the level of integration
increases the more the payback time
for end-users is reduced.
"We chose Turboalgor because it
has a significant impact on both
environmental and economic terms.
Furthermore, there was the possibility
to reduce the compressors size and
to reduce the power consumed for
the same performance." says Rocco
Di Battista, Di Battista Food owner.
Despite the difficult period that the
world is experiencing, Turboalgor is
encountering strong interest from the
market and it’s looking for companies
that share the same values and
that are interested in preserving the
environment.
As a result of directives aimed to
reduce and to eliminate refrigeration
fluids that contribute to global
warming, refrigerating plants using
natural refrigerants are becoming
more and more widespread.
Among these CO2, being neither
flammable nor toxic, is assuming
a relevant importance, but it
is characterized by a higher
consumption of electricity.
Energy efficiency, which is important
in all applications, takes more
relevance in this specific case.
Unfortunately, turbocharger cannot
be used in this type of system due to
the high pressures and low volumetric
flow rates of the refrigerant fluid.
For this reason Turboalgor has
developed a device completely
different from the turbocharger, but
with the same purpose: to compress
refrigerant fluid without using primary
energy but by reusing the energy of
the refrigeration circuit that would
otherwise be lost; this device is
the "free piston expander" that is
a piston-cylinder system with no
electric motor and whose movement
is guaranteed by the "waste energy"
which in a normal refrigerator would
not be usable.
Theoretical analyses foresee that,
through the free piston expander and
related auxiliary devices, it will be
possible to save between 10-20% of
electricity.
The experimentation on the test
bench of the first free piston
expander prototype will have to
quantify the extent of the benefit
obtainable in terms of energy
efficiency.
Turboalgor is also working on the
"heart" of refrigeration system, that
is the compressor; successfully
completed the research activities
on an innovative reciprocating
compressor characterized by
efficiency increases more than 10%,
the activities aimed at industrializing
and placing on the market this type
of compressor have begun.
Contact details:
Maurizio Varesi
Sales & Marketing Director
Turboalgor S.r.l.
Headquarter
loc. Cimacolle, 464
06056 Massa Martana (PG) – Italy
Sales Head Office:
Centro Direzionale Milanofiori
Strada 1 Palazzo F 1
20057 – Assago (MI)
Tel: +39 029 397 0170
Mob: +39 339 683 3685
Email: maurizio.varesi@turboalgor.it