The solution was devised by the French engineer Charles Tellier who fitted the first ship with a refrigeration system that allowed meat to remain fresh during its 105-day journey between France and Argentina in 1876. Refrigerated shipping emerged and, by 1902, 460 refrigerated ships, or “reefers” as they were also known, transporting millions of tonnes of Argentina's beef and Guatemalan bananas.
From producer to consumer, food must be kept at low temperatures to prevent spoilage and slow the growth of harmful bacteria. A reliable cold chain begins the moment food is harvested through to the processing and packaging of the product until it reaches the retailer and, finally, the consumer. Throughout the process, food must be kept cold, including during its transportation and storage.
The International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) estimates that about 400 million tonnes of food are preserved using refrigeration worldwide and over two billion refrigeration units - commercial and in homes - are in use. But more effort is needed. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), approximately 1,3 billion tonnes of food is wasted or lost each year. In developing countries, loss is often the result of technical constraints such as the lack of an uninterrupted cold chain.
A reliable cold chain is necessary to achieve food security and end food waste in many parts of the world. While many IEC Standards help to promote the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the standards related to cooling and refrigeration are essential to helping countries achieve SDG 2 on ending hunger.Refrigeration can be defined as the lowering of the temperature in an enclosed space by removing the heat from the space and transferring it elsewhere. However, heat will not spontaneously move from a colder location to a hotter one. Liquid refrigerants are necessary to absorb and remove the heat from the space.
Refrigerants have a key role on the performance of the refrigeration cycle. However, some of the most commonly used refrigerants contain chlorine which, when released into the earth’s stratosphere, cause harm to the ozone layer.
Worldwide efforts to reduce the use of substances responsible for depleting the ozone layer led to the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Considered by some to be one of the most successful international agreements, the Montreal Protocol has allowed the ozone hole in Antarctica to become smaller However, the Protocol also led to the replacement of certain substances with hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that may not damage the ozone layer but are considered greenhouse gases with the potential to cause global warming.
The Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which entered into force on 1 January 2019, requires countries to phase out the use of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years. Low global warming potential (GWP) alternatives, so called natural refrigerants (carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrocarbons), as well as unsaturated HFCs, are possible replacements to the presently used HFCs.
However, apart from carbon dioxide, most of the low GWP alternatives are significantly more flammable than HFCs.
SC 61C has recently updated the standard IEC 60335-2-89, which provides the requirements for commercial refrigerating appliances and ice-makers. The new edition allows for an increase in the maximum charge size permitted for flammable refrigerants used in certain types of commercial refrigerating appliances from the currently permitted 150 grams to approximately 500 grams in case of A3 class (hydrocarbons) and to 1,2 kg for A2L safety class refrigerants according to the flammability classification based on the standard ISO 817.
According to Marek Zgliczynski, Chair of SC 61C, “the standard allows manufacturers to comply with present and future regulations of phasing out refrigerants with a high global warming potential for this market segment”. This includes most notably the large, commercial display cases used in supermarkets.
Other IEC Standards are also essential in ensuring the safety of refrigerating appliances. Most notably, a number of standards in the IEC 60335 series address the
safety requirements for various types of appliances using refrigerants. For example, IEC 60335-2-104 provides the requirements for the recovery and/or recycling of refrigerants.
IEC SC 59M addresses the performance requirements of electrical household cooling and freezing appliances such as refrigerators and food freezers. In an attempt to measure the energy efficiency of household refrigerators, SC 59M issued IEC Technical Report 63061 which provides a uniform method for calculating the parameters of adjusted volume in refrigerating appliances. Performance testing methods for commercial appliances are covered by relevant ISO standards.