A numerical analysis of latent thermal energy storage for refrigerated trucks

Refrigerated transportation has a primary role in assuring quality and safety of perishable products. About 4 million of refrigerated vehicles run worldwide. The energy requested for the foodstuff carriage only is about 40% of the total energy consumed during the journey. Researchers have been putting their efforts in developing innovative solutions to assure an adequate products transportation with lower environmental impacts. Latent Thermal Energy Storage systems based on PCMs are a promising technology. In this work, the discharging phase of an insulated wall consisting of a polyurethane layer wrapping a second one (0.5-2 cm thick) of PCM (2-5°C melting temperature) is analysed. 2D transient simulations are run by applying a varying hourly solar irradiation of a typical summer day in Vicenza. The results reveal that the proposed design is very promising because even the smallest thickness can assure an adequate temperature inside the cell for almost the entire operation.