Posts Tagged “trailer refrigeration units”
ATHENS, GA – Boasting high refrigeration capacities, demonstrated fuel savings of 20 to 25% and reduced emissions for greater sustainability and regulatory compliance, Carrier Transicold’s new X4™ 7700 trailer refrigeration unit is now available through the company’s North America dealer network.
“In full production at our world-class manufacturing facility in Athens, Georgia, the new premium performance X4 7700 single-temperature unit builds on the X4 platform’s decade-long reputation for high capacity and rugged, dependable service,” said Bill Maddox, Senior Manager of Product Management, Truck Trailer Americas, Carrier Transicold. “Continuing the tradition of reliable design and simply smarter engineering, the X4 7700 unit offers a 96% reduction in particulate emissions and double-digit gains in fuel efficiency compared to standard X4 models.”
The new unit employs an advanced version of the smart engine used throughout Carrier Transicold’s existing trailer platforms. Benefits of the new unit include:
• Enhanced compliance – Under current regulations, the X4 7700 provides lifetime compliance with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) stricter rules for trailer refrigeration systems.
• Significantly better fuel economy – The advanced engine features commonrail fuel injection for optimized fuel delivery that reduces fuel consumption by 5 to 10%. The new third speed, called “eco speed,” automatically decreases engine RPMs during intervals where conditions permit, significantly improving operating efficiency compared to normal low-speed operation for even more fuel savings. Combined, these performance enhancements demonstrated 20 to 25% average fuel savings, relative to standard X4 units, for premium performance X4 7700 units tested by over-the-road fleets under a variety of operating conditions during the summer of 2022.
• Greater sustainability – The unit uses R-452A refrigerant with a global warming potential 45% lower than that of the traditional transport refrigeration unit refrigerant, R-404A. The efficient common rail fuel system and a diesel oxidation catalyst push particulate, hydrocarbon and NOx emissions to new lows, and the unit is the most environmentally responsible choice in the X4 Series for fleets seeking sustainable options.
• Lighter weight – At 1,690 pounds, the X4 7700 weighs about 10% less than its competition.
• Highest capacity – As with its predecessor in the X4 Series, the X4 7700 achieves the high industry benchmark of 68,000 BTU/h at a setpoint of 35 degrees Fahrenheit under certification conditions of the Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute.
“The X4 7700 provides more BTUs of cooling per engine RPM than competitive units, meaning competitive units must run harder than an X4 unit to achieve similar results,” Maddox said.
All X4 7700 units are equipped with Carrier Transicold’s industry-leading LynxTM Fleet telematics solution for remote monitoring of temperatures, location, movement and system operating performance. To help maintain the charge of the battery supporting the unit and its telematics system, Carrier Transicold now also offers its TRU-Mount solar panel as a factory-installed option.
Carrier Transicold’s CARB-compliant TRUs help fleets significantly reduce their environmental impact, supporting Carrier’s 2030 Environmental, Social and Governance Goal of reducing its customers’ carbon footprint by one gigaton.
For more than 50 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, directdrive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. For more information, visit Carrier Transicold. Follow Carrier on Twitter: @SmartColdChain, on Facebook at Carrier Transicold Truck/Trailer U.S. & Canada and on LinkedIn at Carrier Transicold Truck Trailer Refrigeration.
Having a trailer in good condition is as important as ambient (outside) temperatures in affecting the condition of a load of perishable produce.
With age, trailer insulation deteriorates, notes Rich Macleod of TransFresh Corp. of Salinas, CA. However, a bigger threat to trailers are the beatings they take from forklifts and pallets “that tend to attack those sidewalls. They tend to stretch them, buckle rivets, punch holes. All of that gradually degrades insulation. Then moisture gets into that insulation,” Macleod states.
Drivers should check the manufacturer’s stated value of insulation over time that collects moisture. It is the damage not only to interior walls, but outside trailer walls that excellerates the degrading process, he notes. These same principals apply to summertime hauling as well as loads in wintertime.
“If you have damage to the outside of the trailer and are driving though a rain storm, moisture is getting in the insulation. Then you get in some 25-degree (F.) weather and the insulation with moisture is freezing. Then there is no insulation value,” Macleod says. ” You are just creating an ice block. Now you are hauling around an ice block instead of insulation.”
The condition of trailer doors also is important. Make sure the door is sealing properly.
Macleod says the rules for temperature control in the trailer are the same for summer and winter, except when it gets down to 25 degrees F. or less. Then there is more leeway in moving the set point on the reefer unit upwards to protect the load.
Additionally, Macleod notes if hauling tropical fruit that is subject to cold temperature injury, be especially careful with the loading pattern, as well as make sure the reefer unit is performing as it should.
Manufacturers of trailer refrigeration units have made significant progress in controlling air temperature, air return and air output sensors because of improved and better written computer programs, he notes.
Macleod says this results in loads of fresh product being less likely to freeze, or to become too warm. It used to be the air going into the trailer unit was above the set point, it would put out an unlimited amount of cold air. In some cases the cold air going through the air chute would freeze product in the back of the trailer. This gets the BTUs in the trailer without having to drop the temperature.
“They have been able to write the programs into the reefer unit that controls the air out put much more effectively so you don’t get the temperature extremes such as freezing and warming in the load, because you are able to control that air flow much better,” Macleod says.
Now manufacturers have designed equipment to control the air to go only a certain amount of degrees from the set point. Additionally, the fan will go into high speed for air circulation, rather than at a lower speed, to encourage air mixing.
(Rich Macleod is vice president, pallet division North America for TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA. TranFresh provides Tectrol, a service where the atmosphere integrity of berry shipments is maintained at a 10 percent or higher CO2 level. This provides better quality arrivals of berries and longer shelf life.)