IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i11p2665-d1405731.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Transient Analysis of Latent Thermal Energy Storage Using Phase Change Materials in a Refrigerated Truck

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Cirillo

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy)

  • Adriana Greco

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy)

  • Claudia Masselli

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy)

Abstract

The preservation of perishable food items within the cold chain is a critical aspect of modern food logistics. Traditional refrigeration systems consume large amounts of energy, without an optimal temperature distribution, leading to potential food spoilage and economic losses. In recent years, the integration of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into cold chain systems has emerged as a promising solution to address these challenges. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the utilization of PCMs for food preservation in a refrigerated truck, focusing on the impact on temperature control, phase change fraction, costs, and energy savings. The effectiveness of PCM-based refrigeration system to maintain the refrigerated truck at a temperature of −18 °C under various scenarios and environmental conditions using a transient model was evaluated. The TRNSYS model includes a representation of a conventional refrigerated van’s system, with simulations conducted in a Mediterranean climate (Naples). The model’s core components consist of Type 56 for cooling load estimation and Type 1270a for the new PCM component. Results indicate that for guaranteeing −18 °C for 10 h, 96.4 kg and 102.2 kg of E-26 and E-29 PCM are needed, respectively, for scenarios with 10 door openings during transportation and for two different velocities of the truck: 30 and 80 km h −1 . Results indicate that the incorporation of PCMs in the refrigerated van leads to significant improvements in temperature stability and uniformity, thereby extending the shelf life of perishable food products and reducing the risk of spoilage. Furthermore, the analysis shows that, using the PCMs, a significant reduction of the energy costs can be obtained (up to a maximum of around 79%).

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Cirillo & Adriana Greco & Claudia Masselli, 2024. "A Transient Analysis of Latent Thermal Energy Storage Using Phase Change Materials in a Refrigerated Truck," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-18, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:11:p:2665-:d:1405731
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/11/2665/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/11/2665/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Ming & Saman, Wasim & Bruno, Frank, 2014. "Computer simulation with TRNSYS for a mobile refrigeration system incorporating a phase change thermal storage unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 226-235.
    2. Liu, Ming & Saman, Wasim & Bruno, Frank, 2012. "Development of a novel refrigeration system for refrigerated trucks incorporating phase change material," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 336-342.
    3. Antonella Meneghetti & Luca Monti, 2015. "Greening the food supply chain: an optimisation model for sustainable design of refrigerated automated warehouses," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(21), pages 6567-6587, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bin Li & Jiaming Guo & Jingjing Xia & Xinyu Wei & Hao Shen & Yongfeng Cao & Huazhong Lu & Enli Lü, 2020. "Temperature Distribution in Insulated Temperature-Controlled Container by Numerical Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Ahn, Jae Hwan & Kim, Hoon & Jeon, Yongseok & Kwon, Ki Hyun, 2022. "Performance characteristics of mobile cooling system utilizing ice thermal energy storage with direct contact discharging for a refrigerated truck," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    3. Xinghui Zhang & Qili Shi & Lingai Luo & Yilin Fan & Qian Wang & Guanguan Jia, 2021. "Research Progress on the Phase Change Materials for Cold Thermal Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-46, December.
    4. Adhiyaman Ilangovan & Samia Hamdane & Pedro D. Silva & Pedro D. Gaspar & Luís Pires, 2022. "Promising and Potential Applications of Phase Change Materials in the Cold Chain: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Nie, Binjian & Palacios, Anabel & Zou, Boyang & Liu, Jiaxu & Zhang, Tongtong & Li, Yunren, 2020. "Review on phase change materials for cold thermal energy storage applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Wu, Jing & Tremeac, Brice & Terrier, Marie-France & Charni, Mehdi & Gagnière, Emilie & Couenne, Françoise & Hamroun, Boussad & Jallut, Christian, 2016. "Experimental investigation of the dynamic behavior of a large-scale refrigeration – PCM energy storage system. Validation of a complete model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 32-42.
    7. Du, Kun & Calautit, John & Eames, Philip & Wu, Yupeng, 2021. "A state-of-the-art review of the application of phase change materials (PCM) in Mobilized-Thermal Energy Storage (M-TES) for recovering low-temperature industrial waste heat (IWH) for distributed heat," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1040-1057.
    8. Nie, Binjian & She, Xiaohui & Du, Zheng & Xie, Chunping & Li, Yongliang & He, Zhubing & Ding, Yulong, 2019. "System performance and economic assessment of a thermal energy storage based air-conditioning unit for transport applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Songyi Wang & Fengming Tao & Yuhe Shi, 2018. "Optimization of Location–Routing Problem for Cold Chain Logistics Considering Carbon Footprint," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Li, Yantong & Huang, Gongsheng & Xu, Tao & Liu, Xiaoping & Wu, Huijun, 2018. "Optimal design of PCM thermal storage tank and its application for winter available open-air swimming pool," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 224-235.
    11. Stropnik, Rok & Stritih, Uroš, 2016. "Increasing the efficiency of PV panel with the use of PCM," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 671-679.
    12. Zhang, Chuan & Zhou, Li & Chhabra, Pulkit & Garud, Sushant S. & Aditya, Kevin & Romagnoli, Alessandro & Comodi, Gabriele & Dal Magro, Fabio & Meneghetti, Antonella & Kraft, Markus, 2016. "A novel methodology for the design of waste heat recovery network in eco-industrial park using techno-economic analysis and multi-objective optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 88-102.
    13. Gazda, Wiesław & Kozioł, Joachim, 2013. "The estimation of energy efficiency for hybrid refrigeration system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 49-57.
    14. Gao, Peng & Wei, Xinyu & Wang, Liwei & Zhu, Fangqi, 2022. "Compression-assisted decomposition thermochemical sorption energy storage system for deep engine exhaust waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).
    15. Sgarbossa, Fabio & Russo, Ivan, 2017. "A proactive model in sustainable food supply chain: Insight from a case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PB), pages 596-606.
    16. Song, Yanlin & Zhang, Nan & Jing, Yaoge & Cao, Xiaoling & Yuan, Yanping & Haghighat, Fariborz, 2019. "Experimental and numerical investigation on dodecane/expanded graphite shape-stabilized phase change material for cold energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    17. Feiyue Qiu & Guodao Zhang & Ping-Kuo Chen & Cheng Wang & Yi Pan & Xin Sheng & Dewei Kong, 2020. "A Novel Multi-Objective Model for the Cold Chain Logistics Considering Multiple Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-28, September.
    18. Rasaq Adekunle Olabomi & Bakar Jaafar & Md Nor Musa & Shamsul Sarip, 2022. "Soil Temperature Control For Growing Of High-Value Temperate Crops On Tropical Lowland," Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (MJSA), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 6(1), pages 57-64, October.
    19. Jankowski, Nicholas R. & McCluskey, F. Patrick, 2014. "A review of phase change materials for vehicle component thermal buffering," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1525-1561.
    20. Jing Chen & Pengfei Gui & Tao Ding & Sanggyun Na & Yingtang Zhou, 2019. "Optimization of Transportation Routing Problem for Fresh Food by Improved Ant Colony Algorithm Based on Tabu Search," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-22, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:11:p:2665-:d:1405731. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.