By Benjamin Brits
These commercial refrigeration units supplied by TecsaReco are designed to address simplicity and ease of use – while meeting efficiency, varying load capacity and applications with the latest improvements.
The Friga brand is well-known and was established many years ago – always enjoying a good standing in the sector. Over time a focus was lost on the name itself and the TecsaReco team aims to bring that status back into the market through the relaunch of the range and its subsequent enhancements.
“The Friga unit is designed for various refrigeration systems, including medium temperature and low-temperature applications. Medium temperature units (at approx. -5C on suction line) offer capacities of 4kW to 16kW, and low temperature respectively (at approx. – 25C on suction line) capacities of 3.5kW through to 9kW units. These are the current units available now and in the pipeline for release in the first quarter of 2023 we are working on adding a semi-sealed unit operating between a range of 16kW to 29kW with variable speed drive (VSD). On these units we have already completed the housing design or ‘container’ if you will. Essentially this is the same unit as the standard ranges, with the addition of a VSD. The target of this product is especially towards the supermarket or smaller retail stores with only a few uprights and one cold room. With a total load, as an example of approximately 30 kilowatts at -7C, the unit can supply the required demand at any point in time up to the 30kW capacity, given that the demand is never consistently 30kW. This has a direct impact on the ability of the store to manage its electricity saving which is going to be a significant attraction to users,” says Danie Bothma – sales engineer at TecsaReco.
Register for free to gain access the digital library for Cold Link Africa publications
The best additional feature of the Friga range according to the team is that all components that are fitted are standard off-the-shelf parts. As an example: if one looks at the condenser fan – even though an imported brand is used during assembly, this component has exactly the same footprint as other brands such as EBM. What that allows is that should any problem occur with the fan and no replacement is available from TecsaReco, a technician can walk into any competitor store to get what is required to ensure the unit is back in operation soonest.
For all of the electrical elements of the unit – there are “no funny components inside” either. Only standard circuit breakers are used and with the dryer and cycler too – standard components that are available from all wholesalers in the country are used. One of the only “specialised” components used in the Friga unit is the inclusion of a Carel controller that will provide the necessary controls to avoid such things as struggles with floating head pressure and overall pressure consistency, and at the end of the day this gives the user better cooling and efficiency from the compressor.
“Our primary objective with relaunching these units is to highlight the benefits of simplicity and ease of use. Several considerations and improvements have been adopted based on what the market requires. When Danie designed the unit, having been in the industry for many years, what he essentially did was include all of the elements that he realised would add value as well as those nice-to-have’s when looking at installation, monitoring and doing maintenance. A simple example of this are pressure gauges mounted on the outside of the units that allow anyone to see immediately if there is a problem with the refrigerant charge without the need of opening the unit’s enclosure or box. Many such aspects linked to simplicity were therefore big factors in design. Secondly, the vast availability of parts in all corners of the country means that there is little to no difficulty with servicing and repairs,” added Marc Duthoit – general manager of TecsaReco.
A further example of Bothma’s design adaptation, as noted, is the fitment of a check valve between the oil separator and the condenser. This feature greatly assists when the oil separator needs to be replaced as it eliminates the loss of the refrigerant in the condenser. Again, simplicity that enhances equipment servicing/repair.
“In terms of timelines and availability, we have a couple of units coming off the production line currently and full production would come online by mid-October,” Bothma noted.
As an optional extra, units can also be ordered with Carel monitoring and cloud-linked services that enable remote observation, equipment status, setting adjustments and other data that can be important for the user and maintenance teams.
“With local production and assembly at the SCM factory, we are able to add another benefit to these units in that if a client wants something changed or needs to meet particular parameters, we can effect that on the production line right away. So, flexibility of the unit is also achieved,” concludes Duthoit.
Register for free to gain access the digital library for Cold Link Africa publications