The main target in designing cold storage warehouses is to avoid unused space. For this reason, it should be ensured that the space is used in the most efficient way while placing the common areas, offices as well as cold rooms.
When designing corridors, a plan should be made to avoid heavy traffic. Large anteroom maintained at intermediate temperature between the outdoor and storage is particularly preferred in hot and humid climates. These anterooms (passage rooms) are kept in the temperature range of + 10oC / + 12oC to prevent condensation on the product.
Designing of cold storage, the location of outdoor refrigeration units has great importance. Outdoor condensation units should be close to cold rooms and especially to evaporators. Also outdoor refrigeration units should be easily accessible from the outside
Width of the corridors should be designed according to standard workload density. The corridor width is designed considering the pallet and forklift width; it is generally recommended to have 4-5 meters for two-way traffic.
Width of the Doors should be designed by taking into account the size of forklift and pallets and width of corridors. According to area of use doors can be various types such as sliding door, monorail door, hinged door or flip-flap door. Room dimensions should facilitate easy passage of transpallet or forklift. While the most preferred dimension for hinged door is 90 cm x 190 cm, it is 150 cm x 220 cm for sliding doors. For monorail doors, height of the door should be determined according to monorail line. The most commonly used dimension for monorail doors is 150 cm x 390 cm.
