Transportation Refrigeration System with Integrated Power Generation and Energy Storage

Abstract

A thermal energy storage system that enables the discharge of refrigerated air for cooling cargo or passengers in large compartments, such as the trailer of a semi-truck, for a period of time well in excess of several hours. The thermal energy storage system is able to provide refrigeration without operating a conventional VCC unit, the truck engine, or the TRU diesel APU engine during all or a significant portion of the period of the typical range of time that a 53 foot refrigerated the truck is traveling over the road. The thermal energy storage system includes a phase change material reservoir, a cooling system-to-working fluid heat exchanger in fluid communication with the phase change material reservoir, and a phase change material-to-target heat exchanger in fluid communication with the phase change material reservoir. The phase change material reservoir contains a phase change material, a working fluid and a working fluid-to-phase change material heat exchanger.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 266,828, filed on May 1, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,389,007, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 151,653, filed on Jan. 9, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 61 / 750,789, entitled, “Flexible Thermal Energy Storage for Transportation Refrigeration”, filed Jan. 9, 2013, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to thermal energy storage devices, refrigeration systems and methods. More specifically, this invention relates to thermal energy storage and power systems for transport cooling and refrigeration at a desired temperature range or set-point over extended periods of time.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A number of systems have been developed over the years to provide multi-temperature refrigeration for the transport of perishable or temperature-sensitiv...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent is about a new system that combines refrigeration and thermal energy storage in a way that eliminates the need for a diesel engine or auxiliary power unit (APU) in refrigeration units used in trailers, boxcars, or other cooled air transport spaces. The system can be used in large compartments without the need for a dedicated TRU diesel engine or other APU. It can also simultaneously power a conventional refrigeration unit and charge a battery energy storage (BES) and / or thermal energy storage (TES) systems. The system can provide cooling even when the vehicle is stationary or parked, and can be used for extended periods of time without being in motion. The hybrid refrigeration and thermal energy storage system (HTESS) offers the benefits of both systems while minimizing their size, cost, weight, emissions, and regulatory impacts.

Problems solved by technology

First, these systems are characterized by high operating costs due to their large consumption of diesel fuel.

Second, operation by use of diesel fuel raises a number of regulatory issues, including noise restrictions and proven health critical emissions from the diesel engines.

Electrical trailer refrigeration units powered by truck alternators are another one of the systems providing multi-temperature refrigeration, but these systems have been generally limited to smaller trucks and box trucks.

In other applications, such as with a large 53-foot trailer, these systems have proven nonviable because of the constraints of delivering power from the truck to the trailer due to impractical power transfer and operational logistics issues.

The impracticalities in power transfer from the truck include the significant power generation cost and issues in packaging the systems on the truck itself.

There are also significant concerns with transferring high voltage or current from the truck to the trailer.

This split ownership creates operational logistics problems for the delivery of power from the truck to the trailer.

Therefore, implementing truck to trailer power becomes impractical, as the truck must be properly equipped to power the refrigeration system employed by the trailer.

These systems are often used for trucks designed for local delivery and are characterized by much less precise temperature control.

These systems have many short-comings, including their limited heat absorbance capacity, long recharge times for the eutectic plates, the limited temperature control features of the systems and the excessively heavy weights of the plates.

This has generally limited the application of cold plates systems to smaller, local delivery trucks.

While these systems enable diesel-free operation over the road, their initial cost is prohibitively expensive, they are impractically heavy to use for large refrigerated trailer systems, and battery replacement cost further limit their economic feasibility.

Sea containers using electrically-powered VCC place a particularly large current demand on the system's electrical grid aboard ship or from shore power when the unit cycles.

The sea container systems also require significant steady state power requiring oversized power networks or very complex systems to manage the number of units operating and the timing of the cycling.

Recent regulatory activity in the U.S. relating to the diesel engine on TRU units has resulted in additional administrative and economic burdens for fleets operating diesel-powered TRU units.

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