Temporary Cooling, Refrigeration & Power Hire for Beverage Manufacturing

Bottling, Filling & Canning

Bottling, filling and canning operations can place significant demand on plant utilities, particularly when production volumes or line speeds increase.

Production equipment may depend on chilled water or another cooling circuit to maintain required operating conditions.

Depending on the product and line configuration, cooling may support:

• Product temperature control before filling
• Carbonation-water cooling
• Filling and canning equipment
• Packaging machinery
• Supporting production equipment
• New-line commissioning

Increasing line speeds can expose cooling-capacity constraints even when production equipment has not changed. Temporary chillers can provide additional capacity where existing systems cannot meet production requirements.

The temporary system must be selected to suit the required temperatures, flow, connections, hydraulic conditions and available electrical supply.

Blending, Mixing & Product Cooling

Beverage production can require cooling during blending, mixing, processing or product temperature control.

Changes in batch size, production frequency or product mix can increase cooling demand even when the permanent cooling plant has not changed.

Some beverage processes may also require cooling after heat treatment, including pasteurised or hot-fill production, before the product moves to subsequent processing or packaging stages.

Where several cooling loads occur simultaneously, temporary chillers can supplement existing systems or provide replacement capacity while permanent equipment is unavailable.

New Production Lines & Equipment Commissioning

New bottling, filling, canning or processing equipment can sometimes be commissioned before permanent cooling infrastructure has been expanded.

Temporary cooling can provide additional capacity during this transition, allowing new equipment to operate while permanent utilities are upgraded.

The requirement should be assessed using:

• New equipment cooling load
• Required temperatures
• Required flow
• Simultaneous production demand
• Available spare cooling capacity
• Connection requirements
• Available electrical supply

This can be particularly useful where new PET, canning or filling lines are brought online ahead of wider plant upgrades.

Cleaning, Sanitation & Simultaneous Loads

Cleaning and sanitation cycles can affect overall utility demand when they overlap with high production periods.

Where cleaning activities occur alongside bottling, filling, product cooling or refrigeration loads, available cooling and electrical capacity may become more constrained.

Understanding which loads operate simultaneously is therefore important when assessing temporary cooling and power requirements.

Production & Packaging Area Cooling

Process cooling and environmental cooling should be considered separately.

Bottling, packaging and processing equipment can generate substantial heat within production areas, particularly during high-output periods or warmer weather.

Temporary air conditioning, fan coil units, air handling equipment or ventilation can provide additional environmental cooling during:

• Warmer conditions
• HVAC breakdowns
• Planned maintenance
• Facility upgrades
• Production increases
• Changes to production layouts

This allows production-area cooling to be managed separately from the process-cooling system where appropriate.

Refrigeration & Temporary Cold Storage

Some beverage manufacturers require temperature-controlled storage for ingredients, intermediate products or finished goods.

Temporary cool rooms and refrigerated containers can provide additional or replacement capacity during:

• Production peaks
• Refrigeration maintenance
• Equipment failures
• Facility upgrades
• Temporary increases in stock volume
• Seasonal demand

The appropriate solution depends on the required storage conditions, capacity, available space, site access and electrical supply.

Planned Maintenance, Breakdowns & Plant Upgrades

Taking a chiller, pump, heat exchanger or refrigeration system offline can affect several production processes at the same time.

Temporary chillers, refrigeration equipment, pumps and generators can provide replacement capacity while permanent systems are serviced, repaired, replaced or upgraded.

Planning the temporary installation before a shutdown allows the following to be assessed before permanent plant is isolated:

• Connection points
• Hydraulic requirements
• Pump requirements
• Electrical supply
• Equipment position
• Temporary hose and cable routes
• Site access

For unplanned failures, having temperatures, flow, connection sizes, electrical requirements and possible equipment locations documented in advance can reduce the amount of assessment required during the response.

Useful information can include:

• Cooling requirements: Required supply and return temperatures, existing cooling capacity, process cooling loads and simultaneous production demand.
• Hydraulic requirements: Required flow, operating pressure, pipe and connection sizes, existing pumps, manifolds and glycol specifications where applicable.
• Electrical requirements: Available electrical supply, voltage, phase and electrical capacity.
• Site conditions: Proposed equipment position, ambient conditions, site access and delivery requirements.
• Project requirements: Required start date and expected hire duration.

A temporary cooling system may involve more than the chiller itself. Depending on the existing infrastructure, the temporary arrangement may also require temporary or booster pumps, hoses, adapters and fittings, isolation arrangements, plate heat exchangers, electrical distribution, temporary power and supporting controls or equipment.

This may be appropriate where hydraulic separation is required, the temporary and permanent circuits operate under different conditions, fluid compatibility needs to be managed, system pressures need to remain separate, or changes to the permanent process circuit need to be minimised.

A separate secondary circuit can also allow temporary pumps, hoses and controls to be configured without significantly modifying the existing system.

The correct arrangement depends on the plant, cooling requirements and existing infrastructure.

Determine which systems and processes depend on cooling, refrigeration or power.

Depending on the facility, these may include:

• Bottling, filling and canning lines
• Carbonation and product cooling
• Blending and mixing processes
• Pasteurisation and post-process cooling
• Chilled-water and glycol systems
• Packaging and production equipment
• Refrigerated ingredient and finished-product storage
• Production-area cooling

Consider which loads may operate simultaneously during peak production and what would be required to maintain critical manufacturing operations during an equipment failure, outage or planned shutdown.

A contingency plan can also document:

• Temporary chilled-water or glycol connection points
• Isolation valves and arrangements
• Pipe and connection sizes
• Required flow, temperatures and operating pressures
• Electrical connection and temporary power requirements
• Temporary equipment locations
• Hose and cable routes
• Site and delivery access requirements

Identifying these requirements before a shutdown or breakdown can reduce delays when temporary equipment needs to be mobilised.

Aircon Rentals’ HVAC, Refrigeration & Power Contingency Planning service can help identify temporary equipment, connection and site requirements before they are urgently needed.