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Performance evaluation of a new ice preservation system for supermarkets

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International Journal of Energy Research
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At present, all types of large–medium‐sized supermarkets with aquatic products adopt ice preservation to ensure freshness. The traditional method of ice preservation needs to make a large amount of thick ice and thus wastes manpower and freshwater. A new ice preservation system with cold storage (IP&CS) is designed, and its performance is tested. The use of a cold storage tank to replace the thick ice laid achieves a repeated cold storage and discharge. This experiment uses NaCl solution as the cold storage phase change material (PCM). The phase change temperature of the cold storage PCM and the optimum temperature of the secondary refrigerant during the cold storage process are determined. Results show that the center temperature of aquatic products, water loss rate, color of aquatic products, power consumption, and electricity cost of the IP&CS system are better than those of the traditional ice preservation system.
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Performance evaluation of a new ice preservation system
for supermarkets
Zhongbao Liu
1
| Fengfei Lou
1
| Xin Qi
2
| Jiawen Yan
1
| Banghua Zhao
1
| Yiyao Shen
3
1
Department of Refrigeration and
Cryogenic Engineering, College of
Environmental and Energy Engineering,
Beijing University of Technology, 100
Pingleyuan Road, Chaoyang, Beijing
100124, PR China
2
China Household Electric Appliance
Research Institute, 6 Yuetan beixiao
Beixiao Str, Xicheng, Beijing 100037, PR
China
3
Key Laboratory of Urban Security and
Disaster Engineering of Ministry of
Education, Beijing University of
Technology, Beijing 100124, PR China
Correspondence
Zhongbao Liu, Department of
Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering,
College of Environmental and Energy
Engineering, Beijing University of
Technology, 100 Pingleyuan Road,
Chaoyang, Beijing 100124, PR China.
Email: liuzhongbao@bjut.edu.cn
Funding information
National Natural Science Foundation of
China, Grant/Award Number: 51776006
Summary
At present, all types of largemediumsized supermarkets with aquatic prod-
ucts adopt ice preservation to ensure freshness. The traditional method of ice
preservation needs to make a large amount of thick ice and thus wastes man-
power and freshwater. A new ice preservation system with cold storage
(IP&CS) is designed, and its performance is tested. The use of a cold storage
tank to replace the thick ice laid achieves a repeated cold storage and dis-
charge. This experiment uses NaCl solution as the cold storage phase change
material (PCM). The phase change temperature of the cold storage PCM and
the optimum temperature of the secondary refrigerant during the cold storage
process are determined. Results show that the center temperature of aquatic
products, water loss rate, color of aquatic products, power consumption, and
electricity cost of the IP&CS system are better than those of the traditional
ice preservation system.
KEYWORDS
cold storage, ice preservation, performance, phase change material, technical and economic
comparison, thick ice
1|INTRODUCTION
Aquatic products have been widely accepted by con-
sumers due to their high protein and low fat and choles-
terol contents. If aquatic products are allowed to turn
yellow naturally, then they will soon become corrupted
and lose their food value.
1-3
The fast development of
living standards worldwide has increased the consumer
demand for highquality, nutritional, safe, and fresh fish-
ery food. At present, aquatic products are an important
component of the food industry. The preservation of
aquatic products must be strengthened to prolong the
preservation period of aquatic products and increase the
value of commodities.
4
Domestic and foreign scholars have studied food preser-
vation technology comprehensively. Tsang
3
proposed a
system design of an Adaptive Food Preservation System
(AFPS). Zhao
5
discussed application and development of
technologies, facilities, and devices in food preservation.
DerensBertheau
6
presented the results of a cold chain
field study in France food preservation. Chai
7
studied the
bifunctional microencapsulated neicosane for various
applications, such as waste heat recovery and treatment,
intelligent textiles and medical protective clothing, and
food preservation. Metcalf
8
studied the feasibility of apply-
ing a lowcost plate heat exchanger solid sorption reactor
to solarpowered refrigeration by using a validated reactor
model to ice making in developing countries for food
Received: 10 June 2019 Revised: 4 August 2019 Accepted: 4 August 2019
DOI: 10.1002/er.4805
Int J Energy Res. 2019;43:88028810.
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/er
88..02
preservation. Sari
9
considered magnetic refrigeration a
serious alternative system for food preservation. Arteconi
10
analyzed the feasibility of implementing trigeneration sys-
tems for refrigeration to preserve food. Cheralathan
11
argued that cool thermal energy storage (CTES) is an
advanced energy technology that has recently attracted
increasing interest for industrial refrigeration applications,
such as process cooling, food preservation, and developing
air conditioning systems. Yan
12
presented a compound
cold storage system that combines a heat pipebased sea-
sonal ice storage system with a chilled water storage sys-
tem for food preservation. Liu
13
presented a new air
cooled household refrigerator that uses phase change
material (PCM) in the fresh food and freezing chambers.
The power consumption and food storage temperature
fluctuations compared with the refrigerator prototype
without PCM exhibit many advantages. These systems
are not popular among the abovementioned technologies
for food preservation. Liu
13
demonstrated that PCM is used
in various fields because it is an effective cold storage mate-
rial due to its latent heat of phase change. PCMs are used to
store heat or cold in narrow temperature intervals with
high storage density.
14
Fujii
15
reported that ice slurries
are now commonly used as cold thermal storage materials
and can be applied to other engineering fields. Huo
16
men-
tioned that PCMs are widely used in battery thermal man-
agement (BTM) to control temperature under latent heat.
Konstantinidou
17
presented that the investigation of the
use of PCMs in the building sector has become a significant
issue and a field exhibiting significant potential in terms of
research and development. Berdja
18
developed an
approach to define the optimal dimensions of a PCM
packed bed heat exchanger used as a cold thermal energy
storage system in a conventional refrigerator. Abuelnuor
19
found that PCMs have great potentials to be used in mod-
ern building materials to stabilize indoor temperature fluc-
tuations for improving thermal comfort. Abokersh
20
argued that a new tendency for deploying PCMs as an
energy storage system is recently introduced in several
solar DWHS. In the Liu's
21,22
paper, a novel type of heat
storage defrosting system of a frostfree refrigerator using
phase change heat storage materials in storing condensa-
tion heat for defrosting and the defrosting system of an
air source heat pump utilizing compressor casing heat stor-
age combined with a hot gas bypass cycle (ASHPCCHS
HGBC) are designed, respectively. Liu
23
developed a
bypass cycle defrosting system using compressor casing
thermal storage (BCDCCTS) using PCMs.
At present, ice (ice making in freshwater), icewater
mixed, and refrigerator preservation technologies are
common freshness controls of aquatic products during
storage and transportation.
24
Among them, ice and ice
water mixed preservation techniques are mainly used to
keep the freshness of aquatic products. The ice consump-
tion, power consumption, maintenance of ice machine,
initial investment in ice machine, and manual investment
of these ways are very large. They also consume a large
amount of freshwater. Refrigerator preservation has high
preservation cost, complicated equipment, large energy
consumption, slow cooling rate, and poor heat transfer
efficiency. Thus, the three aforementioned technologies
are considered ineffective cooling refrigeration and pres-
ervation methods for aquatic products.
All types of largemediumsized supermarkets with
aquatic products adopt traditional ice preservation to
ensure freshness. This traditional method involves laying
a thick layer of ice (5 cm) under aquatic products and
sprinkling crushed ice on top of such products and
freshkeeping layer. Therefore, the supermarket
staff needs to replace a large amount of thick ice every
day, and the traditional ice preservation method
consumes considerable manpower and resources. The
abovementioned studies
3-13
revealed that cold storage
PCM has not been applied for traditional ice preservation
in the aquatic product area of largemediumsized super-
markets. The aforementioned works
14-23
used cold stor-
age PCMs, heat storage PCMs, and heat exchangers for
cooling, heating, or defrosting. The present study aims
to combine cold storage PCM and heat exchanger with
ice preservation. The cold storage PCM and heat
exchangers suitable for ice preservation are established
through the construction and experiment of the heat
transfer model to solve the abovementioned problems,
and the overall performance of the ice preservation sys-
tem with cold storage (IP&CS) system is studied.
This study combines an ice preservation system with
PCMs to develop an energysaving and environment
friendly IP&CS system for supermarkets and tests its
preservation effect. The use of a cold storage tank to
replace the thick ice laid at the bottom achieves a
repeated cold storage and discharge. The system does
Highlights
A new ice preservation system with cold
storage (IP&CS) is presented.
The center temperature of the aquatic
products preserved by the IP&CS system is
reduced by 0.5°C on average.
The water loss rate is reduced by 57.1%.
The power consumption and electricity cost
are decreased by 50.0% and 79.1%,
respectively.
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not require considerable manual maintenance during
operation to achieve repeated cold storage at night and
cold discharge during the day. The crushed ice sprin-
kled on the aquatic products and freshkeeping layer
does not melt. Thus, the freshness of the products is
guaranteed. The proposed process has lower initial
equipment investment, manpower input, and power
and water resource consumption than the traditional
ice preservation system.
2|PRINCIPLE AND SYSTEM FLOW
OF THE IP&CS SYSTEM
The flow of the IP&CS system is illustrated in Figure 1.
The main components of the IP&CS system are the refrig-
eration compressor, evaporator, condenser, and capillary,
which are connected by a reasonable pipe. The tube evap-
orator is laid at the bottom part of the cold storage tank
constructed for heat preservation. This tank is filled with
the secondary refrigerant (automobile antifreeze) in
which several cold storage containers (mineral water bot-
tles of 550 mL) filled with cold storage PCM are
immersed. Cold storage containers of iron material are
not used because the cold storage PCM is a corrosive
NaCl solution. The cost of cold storage containers for
stainless steel material is also too costly to be considered.
Thus, the cold storage device of plastic materials is
utilized.
The cold storage process of the IP&CS system lasts for
approximately 10 hours (from 22:00 to 8:00 the following
day). The workflow and principle of the IP&CS system
during this process are discussed below. The main heat
transfer process of the cold storage process is shown by
the red arrow in Figure 1.
As the heat insulation cover is placed on the cold stor-
age tank, the refrigeration compressor is turned on, and
the refrigeration system begins to work. The tube evapo-
rator exchanges the cooling capacity with the cold storage
PCM in the cold storage containers through the second-
ary refrigerant. The cold storage PCM changes from
liquid to solid as it gradually reaches the phase change
temperature while delivering further cooling capacity.
The cold storage PCM in the cold storage containers
transfers heat Q1 to the secondary refrigerant. At the
same time, the secondary refrigerant transfers heat Q2
to the tube evaporator.
The cold discharge process of the IP&CS system lasts
for approximately 14 hours (from 8:00 to 22:00). The
workflow and principle of the IP&CS system during this
process are described as follows. The main heat transfer
process of the cold discharge process is shown by the blue
arrow in Figure 1.
When the supermarket starts operating, the entire sys-
tem stops the supply of electricity. The heat insulation
cover is opened, and crushed ice prepared in advance is
sprinkled on the freshkeeping layer and the aquatic
products. The secondary refrigerant is kept in contact
with the freshkeeping layer to ensure the cooling capac-
ity transmission. The crushed ice deposited on the surface
of the aquatic products and the freshkeeping layer does
not melt and remains in the form of lowtemperature
solid particles because of the cooling capacity of the
secondary refrigerant and the cold storage PCM. Accord-
ingly, the preservation conditions of the aquatic products
are ensured. The cold storage PCM changes from solid to
liquid as it gradually reaches the phase change tempera-
ture while delivering further cooling capacity. The fresh
keeping layer transfers heats Q3 and Q4 to the cold
storage PCM and the secondary refrigerant, respectively.
The secondary refrigerant will transfer heat Q5 to the
cold storage PCM after a period of cold discharge process
because the IP&CS system utilizes the phase change
latent heat of the PCM.
3|EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS
AND METHOD
3.1 |Experimental apparatus
3.1.1 |IP&CS system
As shown in Figure 2, the tube evaporator is immersed in
the secondary refrigerant at the bottom of the cold
FIGURE 1 IP&CS system 1, Insulation cover; 2, freshkeeping
layer; 3, tube evaporator; 4, compressor; 5, condenser; 6, capillary;
7, cold storage tank; 8, cold storage container; 9, secondary
refrigerant [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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storage tank. The size of the cold storage tank is 108 cm ×
68 cm × 10 cm. The top of the cold storage tank is a fresh
keeping layer, which is composed of iron material and
kept in full contact with the secondary refrigerant to
ensure the cooling capacity transmission. The heat insu-
lation cover reduces the loss of cooling capacity during
cold storage. The aquatic products can be directly placed
on the upper part of the freshkeeping layer to simulate
the ice preservation experiment.
The system has four major refrigeration components,
namely compressor, condenser, capillary, and evaporator.
The types and parameters of these items are QD75Y and
88w, Cree KRDZ and Φ5 mm × 0.65 mm, Haier DA3
and Φ3 mm × 0.5 mm, and Selfmade and Φ8mm×1
mm, respectively.
3.1.2 |Measuring instrument
The system has five relevant instruments used in the
experiment, namely temperature controller, temperature
sensor, power meter, scale, and automobile antifreeze.
The types and parameters of these items are B010 and
50°C to 50°C ± 1°C, A8775B1 and 50°C to 100°C ±
0.1°C, Lear PF9830 and 5 to 600 V/0.002 to 20 A, LQ
C5001 and 850 ± 0.01 g, and FD2 and 50°C to 108°C,
respectively.
3.1.3 |Measuring point layout
The IP&CS system has one measuring point for the sec-
ondary refrigerant, three measuring points for the cold
storage PCM, and three measuring points for aquatic
products. The traditional ice preservation system also
has three measuring points for aquatic products to
compare the preservation state of aquatic products in
the two systems.
3.2 |Experimental method
3.2.1 |Determining the phase change
temperature of the cold storage PCM
The cold storage containers are not placed in the
cold storage tank that contains only the secondary
refrigerant (automobile antifreeze). The temperature of
the secondary refrigerant is set to a corresponding value
when the refrigeration compressor is turned on. The state
of the crushed ice and the data of each measuring point of
the system are recorded when the heat insulation cover is
opened and closed several times (opening once on aver-
age of 10 min, 3 min at a time) to determine the optimum
temperature of the secondary refrigerant when the
crushed ice does not melt or only partially melts in a
day. The phase change temperature of the cold storage
PCM must be lower than the optimum temperature of
the secondary refrigerant to ensure that the crushed ice
does not melt or only partially melts in a day.
For an ice preservation system with an area of 108 cm
× 68 cm, the filling amount is calculated in accordance
with the thermal properties of the cold storage PCM.
The cold storage PCMs (7%, 8%, 10%, and 11% NaCl solu-
tion) with different phase change temperatures are placed
in 550mL cold storage containers. Then, the cold storage
containers are placed in the cold storage tank depending
on the concentration of NaCl solution. The system is used
for 14 hours of cold discharge. The state of the crushed ice
and the data of each measuring point during the cold dis-
charge process are recorded to determine the optimum
phase change temperature of the cold storage PCM.
FIGURE 2 Overall appearance of the
IP&CS system 1, Insulation cover; 4,
compressor; 5, condenser; 6, capillary; 7,
cold storage tank [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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3.2.2 |Determining the optimum temper-
ature of the secondary refrigerant during
the cold storage process
For the ice preservation system with an area of 108 cm ×
68 cm, 8% NaCl solution is used as the cold storage PCM.
The cold storage PCM (46.9 kg in total) is stored in 550
mL cold storage containers. Then, the cold storage con-
tainers are placed in the cold storage tank. The different
temperatures of the secondary refrigerant are set, and
the cold storage PCM stores cooling for 10 hours to simu-
late the hours of operation and rest of a supermarket. The
optimum temperature of the secondary refrigerant during
the cold storage process is determined by comparing the
freezing conditions of the cold storage PCM at different
temperatures of the secondary refrigerant.
3.2.3 |Performance study of the IP&CS
System
The IP&CS system is used for 10 hours of cold storage
and 14 hours of cold discharge to simulate the hours of
operation and rest of a supermarket for investigating the
cold storage time curve, the cold discharge time curve,
and the state of the crushed ice.
3.2.4 |Practicality of the IP&CS system
The preservation effect of the IP&CS system is compared
with that of the ice preservation system in terms of center
point temperature, water loss rate, and color of aquatic
products. Accordingly, the power consumption during
cold storage process is recorded, and the technical econ-
omy is analyzed.
Before the water loss rate is tested, the fresh aquatic
products under the two systems need to be controlled
until no droplets flow out to remove the free water from
the fresh aquatic products.
The formula for calculating the water loss rate is given
as follows:
R¼W1 W2
W1 (1)
Rwater loss rate
W
1
weight of aquatic products
W
2
weight of aquatic products after 14 h of cold
discharge
4|RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 |Determining the phase change
temperature of the cold storage PCM
The temperature of the secondary refrigerant at which the
crushed ice does not melt or only partially melts is set as
4°C. After 14 hours of cold discharge with the ice pres-
ervation system with an area of 108 cm × 68 cm, a super-
market will have consumed approximately 5cmthick ice.
Therefore, the formula for calculating the amount of cold
storage provided by the thick ice is given as follows:
Q¼a×b×h×ρ×r1
¼1:08 × 0:68 × 0:05 × 900 × 335 ¼11071KJ (2)
Figure 3 presents the temperature of the freshkeeping
layer after 14 hours of cold discharge at different NaCl
solution concentrations. The IP&CS system selects the
8% NaCl solution as the cold storage PCM. A DSC test
results show that the melting temperature and phase
change latent heat of the 8% NaCl solution are 5.7°C
and 236 KJ/kg, respectively. The formula for calculating
the filling amount of the cold storage PCMs (8% NaCl
solution) is given as follows:
K¼Q
r¼11071
236 ¼46:9kg (3)
Qamount of cold storage provided by thick ice with
an ice preservation system area of 108 cm × 68 cm
alength of the IP&CS system
bwidth of the IP&CS system
hheight of thick ice consumption on average in
1 day
FIGURE 3 Temperature of the freshkeeping layer at different
NaCl solution concentrations [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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ρdensity of ice
r
1
melting latent heat of ice
Kquality of 8% NaCl solution
rmelting latent heat of 8% NaCl solution
4.2 |Determining the optimum
temperature of the secondary refrigerant
during the cold storage process
The optimum temperature of the secondary refrigerant
during the cold storage process is set as 9°C.
4.3 |Performance study of the IP&CS
system
4.3.1 |Cold storage time curve
Figure 4 shows the cold storage time curve. The cold stor-
age times of the three measuring points during 10 hours
of cold storage process are approximately 4 hours and
40 minutes, 5 hours, and 7 hours. The phase change tem-
perature is mostly concentrated within 5°C to 6°C.
The phase change process occurs in a temperature region
near the phase change temperature instead of a specific
temperature point.
4.3.2 |Cold discharge time curve
Figures 5 and 6 show the cold discharge time curve and
the state of the crushed ice at different times, respectively.
The cold discharge times of the three measuring
points during 14 hours of cold discharge process are
approximately 8 hours and 20 minutes, 10 hours and 40
minutes, and 7 hours and 20 minutes. The phase change
temperature is mostly concentrated within 5°C to 6°C.
The phase change process occurs in a temperature region
near the phase change temperature instead of a specific
temperature point.
4.4 |Practicality of the IP&CS system
4.4.1 |Comparison of the center tempera-
ture of aquatic products
Figure 7 shows the comparison of the center temperature
of aquatic products for the IP&CS and ice preservation
systems. The center temperature of aquatic products
preserved by the IP&CS system is decreased by 0.5°C on
average.
4.4.2 |Comparison of the water loss rate
of aquatic products
The weight and water loss rate of aquatic products under
the two systems after 14 hours of cold discharge were
calculated. Compared with the water loss rate of aquatic
products of the ice preservation system, that of the IP&CS
system is decreased by 57.1%.
4.4.3 |Comparison of the color of crushed
ice and aquatic products
Experimental results display the more intact crushed ice
after 14 hours of cold discharge and the better color of
FIGURE 4 Cold storage time curve [Colour figure can be viewed
at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 5 Cold discharge time curve [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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aquatic products of the IP&CS system than those of the
ice preservation system.
4.4.4 |Technical and economic compari-
son between IP&CS and ice preservation
systems
The ice production capacity of the largemediumsized
supermarket ice machines in Beijing is 500 kg/24 h, and
the electricity power is approximately 2.5 kW. Supermar-
ket staff produces ice for approximately 1 hour every
morning. The cost of commercial water in Beijing is 5.6
CNY per ton. For the traditional ice preservation system
with an area of 108 cm × 68 cm, the formula for the
power consumption C every day, water consumption
Z, and water fee Y per year are given as follows,
respectively:
K1¼a×b×h×ρ¼1:08 × 0:68 × 0:05 × 900
¼33kg (4)
C¼K1=T
t

×P¼33=500
24

×2:5
¼4:0kWh(5)
Z¼33 × 365 ¼12045kg (6)
Y¼12:045 × 5:6¼67:452 CNYðÞ (7)
A power consumption test shows that the IP&CS sys-
tem consumes 2 kW·h power during 10 hours of cold
storage from 22:00 to 8:00 the following day. In
accordance with the latest peaktovalley electricity price
standard for commercial electricity in Beijing in 2018,
the expenditures of the IP&CS and ice preservation
systems are denoted as W
1
and W
2
, respectively.
E1¼L1×R1þL2×R2
¼1:8×0:3658 þ0:2×0:8595 ¼0:72 CNYðÞ(8)
E2¼C×R1¼4:0×0:8595 ¼3:44 CNYðÞ (9)
The power consumption and the electricity cost can be
decreased by 50.0% and 79.1%, respectively, with the
IP&CS system.
K
1
quality of thick ice (5 cm) for ice preservation sys-
tem with an area of 108 cm × 68 cm
FIGURE 7 Comparison of center temperatures of aquatic
products (IP: ice preservation) [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 6 State of crushed ice at
different times [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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Cpower consumption of a supermarket ice machine
on average in one day
T24hour ice production by a supermarket ice
machine
t24 hours
Ppower of ice machine
E
1
expenditure of the IP&CS system in 1 day
E
2
expenditure of the ice preservation system in
1 day
L
1
power consumption of the IP&CS system from
22:00 to 7:00 the following day
L
2
power consumption of the IP&CS system from
7:00 to 8:00
R
1
0.3658 CNY/(kW·h)
R
2
0.8595 CNY/(kW·h)
Zwater consumption per year
Ywater fee per year
5|CONCLUSIONS
1. An 8% NaCl solution is selected as the cold storage
PCM with a phase change temperature of 5.7°C.
The IP&CS system performs cold storage for 10
hours, and the optimum temperature of the second-
ary refrigerant during the cold storage process is
9°C. The required total mass of the 8% NaCl solu-
tion is 46.9 kg for an ice preservation system with
an area of 108 cm × 68 cm that uses the IP&CS
system.
2. For the IP&CS system with an area of 108 cm × 68
cm, water consumption and water fee can save 12
045 kg and 67.452 CNY per year. During 14 hours
of cold discharge process, the center temperature of
the aquatic products of the IP&CS system is
decreased by 0.5°C on average, the color is better,
and the water loss rate is decreased by 57.1% com-
pared with those of the traditional ice preservation
system. The power consumption and electricity cost
can be decreased by 50.0% and 79.1%, respectively,
with the IP&CS system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51776006).
ORCID
Zhongbao Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4106-9365
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How to cite this article: Liu Z, Lou F, Qi X, Yan
J, Zhao B, Shen Y. Performance evaluation of a new
ice preservation system for supermarkets. Int J
Energy Res. 2019;43:88028810. https://doi.org/
10.1002/er.4805
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