Haerbin, Heilongjiang, China – October 8, 2026

Cold storage usually focuses on temperature, insulation, and moisture control. A controlled atmosphere cold storage facility adds another requirement: the enclosure must also help maintain a stable internal gas environment. This changes how the wall, ceiling, floor, doors, and service penetrations need to work together.

A conventional cold room can tolerate some installation details that would be unacceptable in a controlled atmosphere facility. Small gaps, poorly sealed joints, or unprotected penetrations may have little effect on temperature control, but they can become a serious problem when the room must maintain a controlled atmosphere.

Airtightness Becomes Part of the Enclosure Design

In a conventional cold room, the main purpose of the sandwich panel enclosure is to limit heat transfer and prevent moisture from entering the insulated space. Installers therefore pay close attention to panel joints, thermal bridges, and vapor barriers.

A controlled atmosphere facility needs another layer of control. The room must retain its internal gas composition for a defined operating period. This makes airtightness a much more important installation requirement.

Panel joints need continuous sealing rather than simple mechanical connection. The connection between wall and ceiling panels also deserves careful attention. Corners, floor-to-wall joints, and panel ends can all create potential leakage paths.

The same principle applies to cold room doors. A standard insulated door may provide adequate thermal performance, yet its gasket system may not provide the airtightness required for controlled atmosphere operation. Door frames and thresholds therefore need to work as part of the enclosure rather than as separate components.

For a cold chain warehouse with both conventional and controlled rooms, these requirements may also vary between areas. Not every room needs the same level of airtight construction, so the enclosure specification should follow the actual operating conditions.

Penetrations and Connections Need More Attention

Service penetrations are often easy to overlook during panel installation. Refrigeration pipes, electrical cables, sensors, drains, lighting, pressure-control equipment, and other services may all pass through the insulated enclosure.

In a conventional cold room, installers normally focus on insulation continuity and moisture sealing around these openings. In a controlled atmosphere room, they also need to consider air and gas leakage.

A small opening can become significant when the room operates under controlled pressure and gas conditions. The sealing method should therefore match the penetration itself. A cable penetration cannot simply use the same treatment as a large refrigeration pipe.

Coordination also matters before installation begins. If equipment locations change after the panels are installed, additional drilling can create unnecessary leakage points. It is usually easier to plan the penetrations together with refrigeration, electrical, monitoring, and atmosphere-control systems before the enclosure is closed.

This becomes especially important around equipment interfaces. A controlled atmosphere system may include gas monitoring, oxygen and carbon dioxide control, pressure management, and safety devices. The surrounding panel system needs to accommodate these components without compromising the enclosure.

Panel Installation Must Consider the Whole Room

A cold room is not simply a group of insulated panels. Its performance depends on how the panels, floor, doors, corners, joints, and equipment interfaces connect.

This is even more apparent in controlled atmosphere applications. The installer needs to think about the enclosure as a continuous boundary.

Panel alignment can therefore affect more than appearance. Poorly aligned joints may make sealing more difficult. Uneven surfaces can also create problems around door frames and connection details.

The floor deserves particular attention. The wall-to-floor junction can become a leakage path if the sealing detail does not connect properly with the floor insulation and vapor barrier. The same applies to the wall-to-ceiling connection.

Material compatibility also matters. Sealants, tapes, gaskets, and other sealing materials need to remain suitable under low temperatures and the expected operating conditions. A material that performs well at normal indoor temperatures may not behave the same way inside a cold room.

For this reason, installation drawings should show critical junctions instead of relying entirely on general panel details.

More Than a Different Type of Cold Room

Controlled atmosphere cold storage requires the enclosure to do more than maintain temperature. It must also support gas retention and stable operating conditions.

The difference does not necessarily mean that every panel or construction method must change. Instead, the installation details become more demanding. Joints, corners, doors, penetrations, floors, and equipment interfaces all need to work together.

For a project using a cold storage system, it is useful to define these requirements before panel production and installation. When the enclosure details are coordinated with refrigeration and atmosphere-control equipment from the beginning, there is less need for modifications after installation.

In practice, the important question is not simply which panel to use. It is whether the complete enclosure can maintain the conditions that the facility is designed to achieve.

About Us

Harbin Dongan Building Sheets Co., Ltd. is a modern enterprise specializing in the production and installation of PU sandwich panels, composite panel buildings, profiled plates, H-shaped steel and other series of steel structural products, and their supporting products. We have been engaged in the production and R&D for 18 years.

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