Energy conservation has now become a social issue, and there are increasing calls for supermarkets, convenience stores, and other businesses to conserve electricity. Generally speaking, it is said that around 30% to 50% of the electricity consumed in a supermarket is used to power refrigerator and freezer showcases.In this article, we will introduce AGC products that play a role in power saving activities.
Question1What are refrigerated and frozen showcases?
Refrigerated and frozen showcases are cases used in supermarkets and convenience stores to display chilled food, drinks, ice cream and frozen food.
They are generally divided into “open type” and “closed type”, and are used according to their purpose.
Uses: Chilled products, dairy products, confectionery, etc.
Merits: Easy to retrieve products.
Open type is also used for frozen foods. It is mainstream in Japan.
Uses: Frozen foods, etc.
Merits: Less susceptible to outside air, low power consumption
The closed-type is the mainstream in the United States, where there is a high consumption of frozen foods.
In response to the energy-saving demands of commercial facilities, the demand for closed-type doors is increasing, and AGC is manufacturing these closed-type doors.
Question2Why don't glass doors for showcases get foggy?
When you're in a warm room in the winter, your windows fog up, right? This phenomenon occurs when there's a large temperature difference between the inside and outside of the door. The same is true for glass doors for showcases. Because there's a large temperature difference between the inside and outside of the door, normal glass would fog up and make it impossible to see the products inside. However, the glass in actual showcases doesn't fog up.
So why don't they fog up? It's because glass doors for showcases use special "insulated glass." While normal "insulated glass" has a hollow space between two or three panes of glass, showcase doors use glass that can be heated by passing electricity through the outer pane. This prevents fogging even when there's a large temperature difference. However, the electricity consumed for heating puts a strain on the environment. For this reason, there are also types of refrigerated showcases, where the temperature difference between the inside and outside is relatively small, that do not pass electricity through the outer pane.
However, because of the large temperature difference involved in freezers, only energized types were available until now. In 2011, however, AGC began selling "Windor®," Japan's first non-energized glass door for freezers.
Question3What are the features of AGC's "Windoor™" glass doors for showcases?
In addition to creating an air layer with the structure of double glazing, the use of special coated glass on the door significantly improves thermal insulation performance, preventing fogging and condensation on the door without the need for electricity. In addition, compared to electrically powered doors, power consumption is reduced by approximately 74%, resulting in an environmentally friendly energy-saving glass door for showcases.
More than half of the glass doors used in showcases in supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan today are non-electric types. In particular, non-electric glass doors for showcases are being introduced in convenience stores, which are open for long hours, in order to reduce electricity consumption.
AGC is making environmentally friendly products that are close to us.
