Carrier Transicold enhances product lineup

Carrier Transicold has enhanced RoadCare contract maintenance programs and made products for 2008 cleaner and greener.

Transport refrigeration unit RoadCare contract maintenance programs have a new web-enabled asset management tool called ViewPoint. It helps dealers and customers with tracking, managing, and planning preventive maintenance, warranty service, and other equipment service needs.

An enterprise asset management software, ViewPoint improves Carrier Transicold's Comprehensive Maintenance and Repair Agreements (CMRA) that transfer fleets' service requirements — scheduled and unscheduled — to its qualified dealer network. Among other things, the CMRAs include a guaranteed fixed-rate hourly cost coast-to-coast, coverage up to 10 years or 20,000 hours of operation, customizable billing and reporting arrangements, and coverages adapted to specific fleet needs.

“CMRAs have always been good for customers because they let them focus on their core business rather than maintenance,” said Carrier Transicold's marketing and product management director Ignacio Aguerrevere. One of the main benefits of the web-based ViewPoint is that it provides fleets unparalleled real-time access, any time, to maintenance information about all units covered under the contract maintenance program. This can help them increase their uptime and predict maintenance costs.

“ViewPoint also helps our dealers optimize customer service for utmost asset utilization,” he continued. “They can use ViewPoint to determine exactly when and what preventive and predictive maintenance is needed to ensure peak performance and maximum life of customer equipment.”

With ViewPoint software's business intelligence capabilities, customers receive a number of CMRA program enhancements, said Aguerrevere. These include notification of maintenance due via e-mail or ViewPoint inbox, online scheduling services, work order generation for non-emergency repairs, online view of unit maintenance and repair history, quick and easy identification of problem units, and Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

KPIs provide an overview of a fleet's current maintenance status, including information about open and scheduled orders, the percent of units that are due for maintenance, units overdue for maintenance, and customer-defined metrics.

Carrier Transicold's 2008 trailer product line-up offers better fuel efficiency and lower sound output than previous models and features engines that “significantly surpass” US Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board (CARB) particulate emissions requirements, said Aguerrevere.

As a result of various upgrades and improvements, the trailer refrigeration unit engines are 1% to 2% more fuel efficient than previous engines.

“Better fuel economy plus improved emissions and lower noise add up to a significant green benefit for customers,” Aguerrevere said.

The units comply with the EPA interim Tier 4 standards (Tier 4i), which lowers emissions by 50% for trailer refrigeration units with 25 to 50 horsepower engines. The Tier 4i engines are used in models 2100, 2100A, and 2500A from Carrier Transicold's X2 Series, and the Ultima, Ultra, and Genesis models.

Truck units

The company's Supra truck refrigeration units are equipped with engines certified to the EPA Tier 4 standards. Tier 4 engines became the standard for the Supra 550, 650, 750, 850, and 950, and the Genesis R-90 units.

Carrier Transicold is the first manufacturer to offer a simple engine-swap solution to comply with CARB requirements for diesel truck refrigeration units, said David Dunn, product manager for truck products.

“It's completely backward compatible,” he said. “A new Tier 4 engine can fit into any corresponding older model Supra — Tier 2, Tier 1 or older — without any special modifications. It's a direct swap.”

The Tier 4 requirement, which took effect for 2008 model-year engines, reduces particulate matter output by 50 percent compared to the previous standard.

The engines used on Supra units reduce the output an additional 40%, Dunn noted. Depending on the model, they also reduce emissions of combined NOx (nitrogen oxides) and hydrocarbons by 12 to 17 percent below the Tier 4 requirement.

The Tier 4 units also comply with applicable CARB requirements. Additionally, for model year 2001 and older Supra units used in California that need to be “emission enhanced” for compliance with CARB this year, the Tier 4 engines can be used as replacements for older engines.

Supra units with the electric standby option can be plugged into an electrical supply at loading docks equipped with power drops, providing yet another compliance strategy, with proper CARB documentation, said Dunn. Using the standby mode, engines can be shut down when parked, eliminating emissions, noise, and fuel consumption.

Hybrid technology

Carrier Transicold's hybrid Vector 1800MT multi-temperature trailer refrigeration system addresses the steady rise in diesel fuel prices by incorporating electric standby. This capability allows the refrigeration unit to be plugged into an electrical power supply while stationary.

The Vector 1800MT features Carrier Transicold's Deltek diesel-electric technology, which offers operational versatility. On the highway, the unit's diesel motor drives an electric generator that powers its all-electric refrigeration system. When parked, Vector 1800MT units may be plugged into electrical current without running the diesel engine.

“At current prices for diesel fuel and commercial electric power, the cost of operating on electric standby is now about one third the cost of running on diesel,” said Aguerrevere. “That is a sharp change from when the Vector was introduced two years ago. The average price of diesel has increased 44% while the price of electricity has gone up about 10%.”

The electric standby mode offers additional benefits, he added, such as eliminating exhaust emissions and engine noise, and conserving fuel for highway use. Reducing the engine's runtime provides maintenance benefits as well.

Using standby power with proper documentation also provides fleets with another compliance option for satisfying CARB requirements.

Electric standby is an integrated feature on the Vector 1800 MT system.

In contrast to optional standby assemblies that add mechanical complexity to conventional units, the hybrid Vector 1800MT system's streamlined architecture delivers greater refrigeration capacity when plugged in, Aguerrevere noted. Moreover, when heating is required while operating on standby, the Vector 1800MT system's energy-efficient electric heating circuit requires significantly less power to achieve setpoint than electromechanical standby options on conventional systems.

ComfortPro APU

Carrier Transicold has completed development of a new high-efficiency diesel particulate filter (DPF) developed for its ComfortPro auxiliary power unit (APU). The filter, which uses active regeneration technology, is required to reduce APU particulate emissions in accordance with CARB requirements.

The company expects its DPF to receive final certification by CARB in the next few months. To be verified, the DPF must eliminate no less than 85% of diesel particulate matter in the APU exhaust.

The ComfortPro DPF is installed in place of the standard APU muffler. With an easy-to-maintain design, the device automatically regenerates with no user input required.