Thermal performance of cold panels with phase change materials in a refrigerated truck

Abstract

Applying the Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in the refrigerated truck is a reliable method of cold storage because they have high latent heat of melting and can have very low melting points. The PCM absorbs the cooling load of the container during its melting and ensures a constant temperature. In this study, the temperature variations inside the box of a 6-ton refrigerated truck are presented for three types of PCMs. The tested materials were Sub-Zero Eutectic PCMs named by E-26, E-29, and E-32. The tests were conducted for a constant path of 466 km length. Each PCM was studied at different truck speeds of 80–110 km h −1 . The overall heat transfer coefficient was obtained from the measurement results in different situations. The results showed that the speed of the truck increases the overall heat transfer coefficient. The minimum and maximum overall heat transfer coefficients of 0.27 and 0.33 W m −2 K −1 were obtained for E-26 and E-29 PCMs at the truck speeds of 81 and 110 km h −1 , respectively. Among the studied PCMs, the type E-26 gave the maximum melting time of 17200s at the truck speed of 81 km h −1 . For a stationary truck, E-26 PCM had the maximum melting time of 18,400 s. The maximum traveling distance of 491 km was obtained when PCM E-26 was used at a truck speed of 110 km h −1 .