Design and freezing performance study of a CO2 plate freezer at -50°C evaporation temperature

At NTNU, a real-sized industrial plate freezer has been implemented into a dedicated CO2 refrigeration system in the laboratory infrastructure. Due to CO2 liquid circulation inside the plates, the unit can provide more than 100 kW of cooling capacity at evaporation temperatures between -30 and -50°C. This study aimed to design the test facility for the proposed plate freezer and numerically investigate the freezing performance. Component sizing was performed using established principles and techniques to accommodate the refrigerant properties. The freezing time evolution for different product masses was analyzed. Furthermore, the effects of evaporation temperature on the freezing time were investigated.