Port of Felixstowe, UK: Union Industries has made its largest ever rapid roll freezer door as part of a multi-door project for a distribution centre on the south coast.
The Yorkshire-based manufacturer has supplied six of its Eiger Doors to Uniserve’s new 750,000 square foot ambient and freezer distribution centre less than a quarter of a mile from the Port of Felixstowe.
The site, due to open in summer 2021, will be BRC food grade accredited, bonded for wet and dry goods in transit with a 100,000 sq foot cold store and 17,000 pallet spaces of frozen storage.
Union suppled its high-speed industrial freezer doors to help manage temperature control between a chilled and freezer location. Positioned adjacent to each other between a chilled marshalling area and the freezer, five of the Eiger doors measure 4 by 4 meters but are towered over by the massive 6-metre-tall door. Also four metres wide, this is the largest Eiger Door produced by Union Industries in terms of total area size.
The doors operate via a six-channel radio control system, which allows one transmitter to operate all of the doors individually. This ensures false activation is prevented, only allowing the doors to be opened when required.
Due to its size the giant door is fitted with a double Eiger1000 dehumidifier system to keep the door ice free.
Opening at approximately 1.6 metres per second, the Eiger Doors close automatically after a short dwell time, which allows for continuous traffic flow without compromising the freezer temperature, Union says. As a result, warm air ingress into the freezer is reduced, preventing the build-up of ice and frost around the doorway, which also leads to energy-saving benefits.
The Eiger Doors incorporates a bottom beam ‘crash-out device’, which minimises the effect of impact damage caused by forklift trucks. This system is supported by an Auto-Reset facility allowing the door to continue to work following impact, which ensures the freezer’s operation remains uninterrupted.
Simon Casewell, project co-ordinator, Union, said: “As new-build DCs get bigger it was inevitable that we’d soon break the record for our biggest rapid-roll Eiger Door, and we’re delighted that it is part of Uniserve’s mega site in Felixstowe. Since its launch the Eiger has disrupted the industrial freezer door market through its innovation and reliability and continues to be specified by contractors like TSL Ltd for prestigious developments such as this.”
Pictured above are (left to right) Union Industries’ Simon Casewell, Ignes Saknaiti from Uniserve, and Dave Bowden from Seafast
