As the cost of energy rises it is becoming more and more expensive for breweries to keep their storage cellars chilled. But two breweries in particular have met the challenge of reducing energy usage by designing and installing naturally cooled distribution centres using super fast automated sequential roller doors from sara LBS to help maintain temperatures using as little energy as possible
Otter Breweries and Adnams have both developed naturally cooled distribution centres for storing products, which use low-carbon insulation and natural cooling to eliminate the need for electrical cooling systems, with the intention of drastically cutting energy consumption.
To maintain the controlled environment in the distribution centre the breweries needed to install a suitable protective door system. sara Loading Bay Specialists met the requirement by providing
fast opening doors that ensure the storage area has no direct exposure to the outside environment, but allow free flowing access for vehicles and personnel.
These distribution centres use a living sedum roof and low carbon walls to provide state-of-the-art, low carbon insulation. They are so successful that the correct room temperature is maintained without the use of any electric chillers, using the natural temperature of the ground. The ability to maintain and control the temperature is imperative to the distribution centres' ability to run without the chillers, meaning that it is necessary to use a door system that doesn't expose them to the outside environment.
"We were aware that Adnams wanted to make sure that its impact on society is a positive one," said Ed Wilks, Operations Manager for sara LBS. "One of the most important ways of achieving this is to ensure that it does all it can to reduce its carbon footprint. The distribution centre was designed and developed to eliminate the need for electric chillers, this meant that it needed to be protected from outside temperatures. We were happy to be able to develop an automated door system for Adnams that preserves the storage area's insulation."
Bespoke, low-energy solution
Inefficient door systems are notoriously damaging to controlled environments, especially when there are no air conditioning systems in place. As employees are often moving in and out of the cellars it was important that the door system could maintain the insulation whilst in frequent use. sara was able to able to provide a bespoke solution using low-energy, high-speed doors.
sara LBS worked with both of the brewers to design and install a bespoke solution that was tailored to the applications needs. sara designed a two-door sequential locking system that ensures one of the doors is always closed. Two doors from the company's Sprint range of high-speed loading bay doors were used for the application.
David McCaig, MD of Otter Brewery, added: "We were aware of the excellent job that sara had done for Adnams when designing its door system so we spoke to sara sales engineer Paul Rudge to see how he could help us. The customer service we received from Paul was exemplary; he developed a door system that matched all of our requirements.
"The system does a fantastic job of maintaining the cellars insulation, meaning that the savings they have helped to create will pay for the doors within a relatively short space of time."
sara's Sprint range of doors is available for both internal and external applications. External doors utilise a galvanised steel frame and a curtain of individual aluminium profiles, which can be easily replaced if damaged. The doors require little maintenance even when in constant use, utilising sara's Disc Drive mechanism which limits noise and wear vibration.
The internal sprint doors have a transparent safety curtain which provides visibility for safety in high traffic areas. Curtain tensioning provides smooth and steady movement with an in-line motor available for applications where side clearance is restricted. MCC Vector control is available on all Sprint doors as an option, which allows users to programme a dual-height opening function and the doors to reach operating speeds of 2.5m/s.
Sprint doors can be supplied with sara's 'non-contact' safety beam: this continuously scans ahead of the door curtain to act as a fail safe security system. If the beam is broken the door stops, preventing the risk of damaging equipment or, more importantly, of injuring personnel standing beneath the closing door.
