Thermal performance investigation of door opening and closing processes in a refrigerated truck equipped with different phase change materials

Abstract Refrigerated transport has been of interest to the scientific and industrial community for centuries. So far, temperature fluctuations during loading/unloading have been a major challenge. It is therefore essential to develop solutions to ensure the quality and safety of transported foodstuffs against temperature fluctuations as well as to reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of commercial refrigerated trucks. The aim of the current work is to evaluate the aerothermal behavior of a refrigerated truck in two configurations (door open/closed) using different phase change materials throughout its operating cycle (charge and discharge). The results obtained show that the integration of a PCM in our system can significantly reduce the cooling capacity required when the truck door is opened and lead to significant energy savings by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.