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Our calculation software consultancy services currently include the following:

• White Rose Software (MicroPipe and MicroCalc)
• Refrigeration & Dynamic Insights Calculator (RADICal)
• Refrigeration Pressure Relief Line Sizing Tool
• CO2 Pressure Rise Vent Simulator

White Rose Software

White Rose Software (incorporating MicroPipe and MicroCalc) has been the choice of refrigeration system design for over 30 years. Conservatively, we can estimate that 30,000 individual refrigeration systems currently operating in the UK alone have been designed using White Rose Software. It has been tried, tested, and proven beyond a doubt.

Acquired by OMEGA Solutions in April 2025, White Rose Software is undergoing redevelopment and will become a cloud-based software programme; modernisation will include the addition of the latest refrigerants and a modern user interface.

MicroPipe

MicroPipe eliminates the need for charts and first principles to calculate not just individual refrigeration pipes but a limitless number of circuits within a distributed network, including riser pipework. Micropipe allows for losses encountered through bends, valves, and interconnecting fittings for a full range of synthetic refrigerants and industrial gases, including CO₂ and Ammonia. By accurately accounting for system losses, MicroPipe ensures that distributed pipework systems are designed to be accurate, error-free, and highly energy efficient. MicroPipe does not just work with SI units; users can also select Imperial units. It is a truly global refrigeration pipework design software package. -Micropipe includes all commonly used refrigerants.

MicroCalc

MicroCalc calculates highly accurate refrigerated areas (chilled and frozen cold rooms). It enables the designer to comprehensively specify all heat gains in low-, medium-, and high-temperature applications. The room geometry and thermal properties, including the types and thicknesses of the walls, ceiling, and floor, are defined as part of the calculation. MicroCalc requires the surrounding ambient temperatures and humidity conditions as part of the load calculation. The software is an indispensable part of a refrigeration designer’s toolkit, regardless of geographical location. Specific product types and loads can also be selected and combined for optimal results. These factors ensure highly accurate load calculations, guaranteeing that subsequent cooler selections are appropriate.

Purchasing

The current version of the software can still be purchased and is priced at £498 per licence; please visit our contact page should you wish to obtain a copy of our software.

Refrigeration & Dynamic Insights Calculator (RADICal)

Developed in partnership with Copeland, RADICal is a simple-to-use tool suitable for any retail store. It projects refrigeration and heating/cooling systems CAPEX, Life Cycle Costs, and Life Cycle Emissions. User inputs include loads (refrigeration and comfort), saturated suction temperatures, geographical location, building heat loss, heating design temperatures (external and internal), heat recovery (yes/no), electricity unit cost, refrigerant leakage rate, and system life expectancy. What makes the tool unique is that three contrasting but future-proof technologies provide the user with genuine options for consideration:

• Remote CO2 booster with/without heat recovery + R290 reversible heat pump(s)
• Remote HFO with/without heat recovery + R290 reversible heat pump(s)
• Integral R290 display cases+ R290 reversible heat pump(s)

The tool enables the application of specific locations, electricity unit costs, system lifetimes, and leakage rates, thereby refining the results for a given application. RADICal provides clear and concise datasets to help food retailers make the best investment decisions for their estate.

Base Principles

Working with Copeland, OMEGA Solutions Technical Director Nabil Cook spearheaded the development of what will become an indispensable decision-making tool for food retailers. Working through extensive datasets and deriving accurate energy consumption data from compressor polynomials across all anticipated conditions, this collaboration produces the most realistic calculator developed in this field. Many compressor performance programs exist; however, RADICal also considers ancillaries such as fans, actuators, controllers, lights, and heaters. No “rules of thumb” have been applied, only vigorous datasets. RADICal will not be confined to a proprietary product under one company’s domain; it has already been and will continue to be issued for use on request, including any upgrades and additions.

Purchasing

RADICal is free to use! Please visit our contact page to obtain a copy of our software.

Refrigeration Pressure Relief Line Sizing Tool

We have created two easy-to-use PRV vent line calculators. Calculating the diameter of vent lines can be tricky; we have simplified this process for design engineers.

Single Vent Line Relief Calculator

Multi Vent Line Relief Calculator

Purchasing

We are delighted to offer our PRV line sizing tools at no cost! Please visit our contact page to obtain a copy of our software.

CO2 Pressure Rise Vent Simulator

In a world of rising temperatures and the transition to low-carbon refrigerant CO2, a little gremlin has existed since CO2 made a comeback as a refrigerant in the mid-2000s. Unlike other refrigerants, CO2, whilst environmentally benign, is volatile. In the event of component failure or power outage, CO2 does not remain stable; its pressure continues to rise. In warmer seasonal conditions, the time to rise is significant, resulting in the venting off of CO2 to protect a refrigeration system from over-pressurisation.

For 20 years, the ability to calculate the rate and time of this pressure rise in the event of a failure has been estimated.

The Challenge & Introducing our Pressure Rise Calculator

In 2024, Walmart engaged OMEGA Solutions to address the challenge of accurately calculating the time it would take for CO2 systems to release their charge upon failure, considering various external and internal conditions. Spearheaded by our Technical Director, Nabil Cook, we embarked on a journey to turn Walmart’s challenge into reality through the development of a dynamic time-domain calculator that predicts the time to pressure relief venting for transcritical and liquid overfeed subcritical CO2 systems.

The calculator enables store workers, control desks, contractors, and service engineers to accurately predict the time to CO2 system venting, ensuring that a system failure can be addressed before the loss of refrigerant charge and the subsequent loss of trading hours that would occur if the system had to be recharged. Importantly, based on location, it identifies the most suitable system pressure rating for pipework and system componentry.

Our multi-section system model takes into account operational conditions at the onset of failure and applies thermal stresses ranging from heat ingress from the surrounding environment to sales area AC failure and refrigerated display case usage, providing the world’s first predictive CO2 pressure rise-to-vent model. It also examines heat ingress from surrounding areas and door openings on refrigerated fixtures and calculates the standstill pressure of a CO2 refrigeration system every 15 minutes over a specified period. The selected locations for which external ambient temperature profiles are applied are the following, from coldest to hottest: Minneapolis, Kansas City, Bentonville, Montgomery, and Death Valley.

The TC mass transfer modelling mechanisms connect discharge to intermediate and intermediate to evaporators/suction. There are two versions of the TC model: one without the intermediate to evaporators/suction mass transfer link and one with it.

How the model was built

The calculator is written in macro-enabled Excel (.xlsm) using embedded VBA and REFPROP routines. It enables high-precision, multi-variable, and non-linear iterations.

Results

Our pressure rise calculator provides outputs across all aspects of refrigeration systems. Amongst many other variables, our calculator enables outputs based on the use of refrigerated fixtures using pulsed or stepper motor expansion valves.

For illustration, when transcritical CO2 is used in the USA, we obtain the following results when starting the simulation just after midnight and assuming no EEV mass transfer:

• Only Death Valley would hit 90 bar on the intermediate side, and this would take 12.25 hours
• Both Montgomery and Death Valley would hit 80 bar on the intermediate side at times of 12.5 and 8.25 hours, respectively. Only Death Valley would hit 80 bar on the suction side in a time of 14 hours
• All locations would achieve 60 bar on both intermediate and suctions sides in varying timescales

Our conclusion for Walmart USA was to install 90 bar-rated systems to alleviate concerns surrounding refrigeration equipment failure and the time it takes for the system pressure to rise and reach PRV settings.

We can adapt our CO2 Pressure Rise Vent Simulator for any geographical location worldwide. Contact us to discover how our tool can support you.