Warehouse operations are as diverse as the facilities themselves. While some are bustling centers of activity with dozens of staff transporting goods all around the warehouse floor all day, others focus more on proper storage and retrieval. To maintain a comfortable environment, warehouses often create different climate control zones. Other divisions separated by doors may exist to separate different areas of work. In either case, while using doors is helpful, it can slow down movement throughout the warehouse. Frequent ingress and egress through these doors can cause your HVAC systems to work overtime maintaining a set temperature, too.
Using an air curtain can remedy these issues. However, when you think of an air curtain, you may think of a much smaller unit, sized for a restaurant’s front door or something similar. How would a unit large enough to cover the width and height of an internal warehouse door actually function? The answer to that is simple, and the results are as dependable as any other installation.
Sizing air curtains for warehouse doors
The most important factor in a successful installation is choosing an air curtain that is both wide enough to create a sheet of air over the entire opening, and powerful enough for that sheet to reach the floor level. To provide the curtain hardware with a strong air flow, these installations typically use a separate air handler and intake that is wall mounted near to the actual curtain. A small duct supplies it with air which is then pressurized and sent flowing downward.
This gentle but powerful rush of air will be relatively imperceptible to your employees, but the effects it can have overall are quite large. Operational principles are simple: when the warehouse door is opened for the day, the curtain activates. Due to the continuous flow, hot air cannot escape from one zone to another, nor can cold air flow out near the bottom of the door. The result is that your desired interior climate is thoroughly maintained, and your overall energy usage will see a reduction. When a zone is not in active use, close the door to deactivate the curtain.
Create a more free-flowing movement across your space
According to a case study conducted by Berner, a leading brand in the air curtain market, some businesses have even developed successful retrofit applications to install air curtains over roll-up doors. With this in mind, upgrading your facility with one should seem a more appealing option. Not only will you pay less to heat or cool the space since less cool air will be lost, but employees can save time as well. Consider that a forklift carrying a pallet no longer needs to wait for a door to open; instead, they can move freely from zone to zone, between air curtains, with no delay.
With a simple mode of operation and curtains available to suit nearly any size warehouse door, this is an option you may want to investigate further. Find out more about how this hardware works and the specific benefits your facility could see. To learn more, please get in touch with the team at Air Door Distributors.
