Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) has developed a truck refrigeration unit that enables simultaneous temperature control of two separate cargo compartments with different temperature settings entirely by heat pump. The unit is the first application of a heat pump for a truck refrigeration unit, according to MHI.
The heat pump enables effective transfer of thermal energy from the compartment needing a lower temperature to a cargo room requiring higher temperature. In this way, the new unit provides more than double the warming capacity of conventional systems that use heat from a compressor for heating. At maximum, the unit will enable a reduction in energy consumption of 75% over conventional systems; it will also realize significant energy savings and reduced CO2 emissions.
MHI will launch sales of the new unit in April 2012, initially targeting installation in food transport trucks that require different temperature settings.
Dubbed the TDJS35HP series, the new model will be driven by the truck’s main engine. In addition to the adoption of MHI’s high-efficiency 3D scroll compressor, the unit achieves the company’s original chilling/warming free circuit, which reverses the flow of refrigerant between the heat and cooling exchanging unit in each of the two compartments according to cooling and warming needs. With these features, high-capacity and high-efficiency operation is enabled under all operating conditions.
The unit can maintain 5° C cold temperature in the front compartment and 20° C warm temperature in the rear compartment, with an ambient temperature range between –10° C and 40° C. Rated heating capacity is 5.7 kilowatts.
Compared with the pre-existing TDJ301DM, the new model achieves a 130% increase in heating capacity and 35% improvement in energy consumption. Overall, it realizes 3.5 times greater efficiency and 70% lower energy consumption.
By performing heating and cooling together, the new model has achieved a 25% improvement in energy consumption, 70% increase in cooling capacity, and 380% enhancement in heating capacity. Overall, the new model realizes 4.3 times greater efficiency (75% lower energy consumption), which also enables a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions.
For more information, visit www.mhi.co.jp.
