Breezair is rolled out in Frank Roberts bakery

One of the largest and oldest independent bakeries in the UK, Roberts Bakery produces over two million bakery products weekly for retail, catering and food service customers throughout the UK and Europe. Prior to the Breezair system being installed, its premises in Northwich, Cheshire used general ventilation, which was introduced into the bakery via outside air ducting and fans. As this system relied on outside temperatures being between 12 and 14°C, when these rose to over 20°C, the air being introduced was far less beneficial.

CoSaf Environments conducted an in depth survey of the bakery to ascertain the best method of improving overall thermal comfort. The company observed that the high roof collected heat, which acted as a huge blanket under which all the heat from the ovens and bakery products collected causing the temperature of the entire space to rise so that the temperatures within the building exceeded the ambient temperature of 21°C by between10° and 16°C, depending on the location of the temperature reading.

“Refrigerative air conditioning, apart from being prohibitively expensive, was unsuitable for this application as hot air from the ovens and gas fired equipment would have been circulated around the bakery”, said Bob Sullivan, Director, CoSaf Environments. “By installing Breezair we were able to utilise the existing extraction system whilst at the same time introducing cooled, fresh air into the building”

To kick off the project Cosaf initially installed four Breezair coolers into the Morning Goods Production Area. The coolers were installed outside the building, with air being distributed via aluminium ductwork to air diffusers and then into the production area to provide temperature relief. Such was the success of this initial installation, with temperatures dropping by around 6°C below outside ambient temperature, that Chris Daniels, Chief Engineer at Roberts Bakery decided to install a further 24 coolers throughout key areas within the bakery.

“The Breezair system has drastically reduced working temperatures”, says Chris Daniels. “The introduction of cooled, clean fresh air has benefited both the bakery and our personnel who are enjoying a more comfortable and healthier working environment.”

Further installations of the Breezair system to other areas of the Bakery are planned for 2006.

The Breezair system is housed in a simple, clean, ultra-modern designed plastic casing specially developed to withstand all weather conditions. The Breezair's state-of-the-art components include an innovative water distribution system, which delivers continuous, balanced water coverage to all the pads. The world-patented system ensures maximum cooling efficiency and minimal maintenance problems.

An innovatively designed, aerodynamic fan provides a constant, even flow of air over the pads to provide a welcome cool breeze with minimal noise and low energy consumption. Other pioneering components include a highly efficient water pump that guarantees constant and reliable cooling when most needed, and a long lasting variable speed motor that gives maximum comfort level control.