Novel good solar-powered freezer truck unveiled in Hong Kong – Uplaza

The transport sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gasoline emissions in Hong Kong, accounting for 19% of complete emissions. Supporting the event of inexperienced transport may also help scale back air pollutant emissions. The Hong Kong Polytechnic College (PolyU) is dedicated to selling analysis into inexperienced applied sciences to help Hong Kong’s aim of decreasing the Metropolis’s complete carbon emissions from the 2005 stage by half earlier than 2035 and reaching carbon neutrality earlier than 2050.

A analysis staff led by Prof. Eric Cheng, Professor of the Division of Electrical and Digital Engineering at PolyU, acquired help from the “Innovation and Technology Support Program (Mid-stream, theme-based)” final June for the analysis mission “Smart Refrigeration Truck Development Program—Power, Solar and Intelligence Method for Logistics and Storage.” The mission is geared toward selling the transformation of freezer vans from conventional gasoline pushed freezer system to good electrical pushed and strengthening the broader adoption of photo voltaic power.

After one yr, the PolyU staff has efficiently developed a novel freezer truck that helps a solar-powered freezer system and options vehicle-connected energy storage and sharing know-how. The mission has acquired staunch help from the federal government, academia and business, together with from Daylight Eco-tech Restricted, Superior Daylight Pty Restricted from Australia, and the Electrical and Mechanical Companies Division.

At the moment, there are roughly 5,000 freezer vans in Hong Kong, and this quantity is predicted to double within the subsequent few years. These automobiles are all powered by gasoline engines, which produce a major quantity of exhaust gasoline and noise when working or idling.

The know-how utilized in typical freezer vans is comparatively outdated, with the freezer system counting on the automobile’s inner combustion engine for energy. Even when the automobile is stationary, to take care of operation of the freezer system the engine can’t be turned off.

As well as, the temperature of the freezer system is usually maintained at round -20 levels Celsius, limiting the forms of meals that may be refrigerated. If every automobile consumes one to 3 liters of diesel per hour, it is going to produce 2.7 to eight.1 kg of carbon dioxide, leading to annual emissions of roughly 16 tons. To offset these carbon emissions, about 760 bushes must be planted.

The good solar-powered freezer truck developed by PolyU gives versatile power enter choices. Key highlights are as follows:

Extensible photo voltaic photovoltaic (PV) panels: Put in on the roof, these PV panels may be prolonged to extend the truck’s energy output, enhancing its power effectivity. The truck is supplied with an power storage machine that captures and shops the electrical power generated, offering extra power for the automobile’s freezer system.

Onboard lithium-ion battery: Along with the photo voltaic power storage, the truck additionally has an onboard lithium-ion battery that may be related to plain electrical automobile charging amenities for recharging. When the photo voltaic power storage is crammed, and the battery is totally charged, they will energy the freezer system for as much as 4 hours. Customers even have the choice to develop the quantity and capability of batteries to additional prolong operation time as wanted.

Highly effective and versatile freezer system: The onboard refrigeration system can keep temperatures as little as -45 levels Celsius. Furthermore, it may well proceed working even after the electrical engine is turned off, successfully reworking the automobile right into a cellular freezer unit. This may also help handle the scarcity of freezer warehouses in Hong Kong.

Moreover, the freezer truck can connect with different automobiles of the identical sort for charging and power sharing. With the automobile’s good power administration system, customers can’t solely monitor and management the utmost output energy of the PV panels to boost effectivity of various power sources, but additionally optimize the freezer efficiency, and lengthen the lifetime of the onboard battery.

Prof. Eric Cheng stated, “The HKSAR authorities has carried out a number of insurance policies lately to advertise the popularization of electrical automobiles, together with setting a goal to stop new registration of fuel-propelled non-public automobiles in 2035 or earlier. Nonetheless, for freight automobiles, the adoption fee of recent power automobiles is comparatively gradual.

“We aspire for this research project to take a leading role in encouraging the transport sector to embrace green technologies more readily and contribute more to reducing emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.”

The PolyU good solar-powered freezer truck is now prepared for commercialization, with the expectation that comparable automobiles will probably be launched within the near-future.