Direct cooling: The direct cooling of the evaporator in the refrigerator and the air in the refrigerator storage room directly absorb heat.
Advantages of the direct cooling refrigerator:
- Lower price: With the lower cost for material and technical, direct cooling is becoming a go-to option for promotional usage.
- Better freshness preservation: Because the airflow speed is slower, the moisture loss on the surface of foods such as vegetables and fruits is also slower, so the degree of food preservation is better, but this advantage is only present in the smaller direct-cooled refrigerator.
Disadvantages of the direct cooling refrigerator:
- Frosting: Because the evaporator is generally on the rear wall or section of the refrigerator, it directly contacts the air in the refrigerator storage room, the refrigerant evaporates in the evaporator and takes away drift, and the water vapor forms frost on the wall of the storage room. These frosts are all Need to be handled manually once in a while.
- Unbalanced internal temperature: direct cooling refrigerators mainly rely on the natural flow of air to achieve temperature balance. For space-conducting refrigerators, the airflow and heat exchange is slow, increasing the temperature of the area near the evaporator and the temperature farther away. Thus, the temperature from top to bottom may not be exactly consistent.
Air cooling: The evaporator does not directly absorb heat in the air but uses the fan to suck in the built-in condenser and send cool air into the interior to cool down.
Advantages of air cooling:
- Higher cooling efficiency: Because the fan is used to force the airflow inside the refrigerator, the heat exchange rate of the air is faster and the indoor air temperature is more balanced.
- No frost: Because the evaporator is in contact with the air in the built-in condenser of the refrigerator, the moisture in the air will form frost in the built-in condenser, and this frost refrigerator will be automatically removed, so there is no need to manually defrost.
Disadvantages of air cooling:
- Poor freshness: This cooling method of air cooling will make the internal airflow faster, and the moisture on the surface of food such as vegetables and fruits will be lost faster. It is slightly worse than the direct cooling refrigerator in terms of freshness. However, the reduction of the rate of water loss through vegetable and fruit drawers, optimization of air ducts, etc. can also play a good role in freshness preservation.
- High Price: Because of the cost of investment and materials, the air-cooling refrigerators are usually twice the price of direct cooling refrigerators.
Conclusion and Purchasing:
- If you are purchasing a small to medium size commercial refrigerator to place fresh drinks and food with a limit of budget, then direct cooling will be a good option.
- If you are purchasing a medium to large size commercial refrigerator/freezer that requires precise and unified cooling temperature with a good budget, air cooling will be a good option.
At Meisda we offer a variety of products(countertop cooler; upright cooler; countertop freezer; upright freezer; mobile cooler) with direct cooling and air cooling optional, depending on the stored product, ambient temperature, cooling requirement, and capacity.
