Estimation of Hourly Solar Loads on the Surfaces of Moving Refrigerated Tractor Trailers Outfitted With Phase Change Materials (PCMs) for Several Routes Across the Continental U.S.

The primary objective of this paper was to calculate solar loads and wind chill temperatures on the surfaces of moving refrigerated tractor trailers outfitted with phase change materials (PCMs) for several routes across the Continental United States. As food transportation vehicles, these trucks experience different environmental conditions as they are in motion. The study of PCMs on food transportation vehicles could lead to new findings related to energy conservation. In this research work, a solar model was developed based on synthesized weather data files obtained from the National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), which contains weather information from 1961 through 1990 for 239 locations (TMY2 data) and weather information from 1991 through 2005 for 1020 locations (TMY3 data). The solar model comprised two parts, data extraction and solar load calculations. The data extraction part separated and picked out the required fields from the TMY data and used them in the solar load calculations program, which was used to estimate the solar loads and wind chill temperatures of every exposed surface of a moving tractor trailer. These solar loads, and wind chill temperatures would then be used in selecting the adequate type of PCMs for a particular route and time of year. In conventional cargo trucks, the refrigeration units are operated by burning fossil fuels, mainly diesel. Therefore, a decrease in refrigeration load would have an impact in fuel consumption and/or in the reduction in size of the refrigeration equipment’s.Copyright © 2012 by ASME