HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs Refrigeraton Case Controllers w/ Sporlan
In this podcast episode, Henry Papa from Sporlan joins us in person to talk about refrigeration case controllers on systems with common compressors. We focus on the Sporlan S3C case controller, but some of the information applies to other case controllers.
Case controllers control the conditions at each separate evaporator and are responsible for controlling defrost, discharge air temperature, and superheat. They can also monitor conditions at the evaporator, especially discharge air. In grocery, we tend to look at discharge air temperature instead of box temperature. Traditionally, we use EPRs to control a fixed evaporator pressure to control the discharge air temperature. With the S3C refrigeration case controllers, we can assess the discharge air temperature directly.
The greatest advantage of the S3C controller is that it is NOT a single centralized control. Those standalone case controllers communicate with each other but work independently. So, if one rack goes down, the rest can keep running. On traditional controls, all of the racks could go down if one goes down.
The S3C controller is also quite serviceable and connects to Bluetooth. So, you can sync the case controller display's data to your mobile device for convenient viewing. You can also control a few different functions from your device. However, you must take some time to understand the parameters, inputs, and outputs, as with any other controller. The goal is to read the manual and get comfortable with the details before working with the controllers.
Henry and Bryan also discuss:
- Sporlan's podcast and training resources
- Parker-Sporlan relationship
- Demand defrost
- Alarm systems on refrigeration case controllers
- Dual-temp control
- Electronic EPRs vs. traditional EPRs
- Becoming "masters of the obvious"
Check out Sporlan's Chill Skills online training HERE.
Learn more about Refrigeration Technologies HERE.
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