Elite: A New Benchmark for Refrigeration Efficiency

We continue to develop new innovations, as industry-leading grocery retailers look to us for expertise

Aerofoil Energy’s 3-year development project has delivered on its key objective: to design and build an open-fronted cabinet that consumes less energy than an equivalent-sized refrigerator fitted with doors.

In 2021, we secured a grant from the UK Government’s Energy Efficiency Fund to support our new research and development programme.  So-called: Elite, this project brought together world-class expertise in food retail refrigeration, aerodynamics, engineering, and independent testing and validation.  The joint goal was to break with conventional wisdom by designing an ultra-efficient, open-fronted display cabinet from the ground up.

Initially conceived and interrogated in the virtual world using CFD models, the challenge was then to build a working prototype that delivered on the predicted energy and temperature performance.  In 2024, following extensive benchmarking and testing at Brunel University’s laboratory and WAE Technologies’ test facility, the Elite prototype was proven to be significantly more energy-efficient than its doored equivalent.

Our world-class CFD modelling demonstrates the clear temperature improvements with Elite Technology

The Elite project showcases Aerofoil Energy’s deep understanding of refrigeration aerodynamics and thermodynamics.  It has established the company as an authority in its field and builds on its successful deployment of energy-saving technology in many of the world’s largest grocery retailers. Importantly, the project will empower grocers to demand greater innovation from the refrigeration manufacturing industry.

The Elite open prototype case exhibits significantly lower energy use than an equivalent doored cabinet

Although there are no plans to manufacture and supply the Elite cabinet to supermarkets, Aerofoil Energy has launched key components from the final case design as individual retrofit or factory-fit technologies.  For example, one of the many innovations, Aeroscreen, is a new air-curtain technology, which has already been launched and adopted by several leading UK and USA retailers.