Refrigeration and Cooling Units
Cold Breakthrough
BoTemp, a company that produces rechargeable cold storage systems for the
transport industry using phase change material gel (PCM), recently unveiled two
new innovations that they are convinced are the solution for todays market.
F
ollowing thorough tests, the Cold
Battery and the Cold Charger developed by BoTemp are now available at their factory in Oosterhout,
Netherlands. These latest innovations
offer a wide range of benefits including
shorter charging time and a variable
temperature.
Cold Battery
The cold in the battery is distributed into
the cargo area with forced air. By varying
the speed and capacity of the air, a wide
controllable temperature range then
becomes available to meet the specific
application needs of the user. For example, temperatures can be switched
from minus 18 degrees celsius from one
day, to four degrees celsius for the next
delivery. The company also developed a
stationary application of the Cold Battery for cold storage facilities and office
buildings. This application stores the
cold generated via sustainable energy
sources like wind or solar panels.
Put to Test
The development of the Cold Battery
started in 2012. A thermal energy sto-
rage concept that was based on the
company’s beam product technology,
which was a well known product in the
market for more than 20 years. The first
rough-cut Cold Battery in a wooden
casing was used to test the concept of
storing thermal energy for later use. It
worked beyond expectations and kept a
fictive cargo space at four degrees Celsius for eight hours, a normal duty cycle
for a distribution truck of chilled food
products. This battery was then used for
several test runs and later modified with
controls to get variable temperature
capability. The next Cold Battery was
designed to operate as a multi-temp refrigeration system, that is, to simultaneously keep two separate compartments
at two different set temperatures. This
battery was much slimmed down in size
and mounted underneath an insulated
truck body with two compartments,
freeze (minus 20 degrees Celsius) and
chill (four degrees Celsius). This Cold
Battery performed exactly to expectations and they are currently developing
a customized Cold Battery for a three
and a half ton multi-temperature truck
application in the United Kingdom.
The improved thermodynamic properties reduce charge
time and heat absorption response time.
6
Advantages
Some of the advantages of the Cold Battery include, versatile solution for temperature controlled logistics, dynamic
temperature control which is both variable and multi-temp. The Cold Battery is
applicable for contingency and energy
management purposes and is built on
proven track record of the company’s
beam technology. The improved thermodynamic properties reduce charge time
and heat absorption response time.
Cold Charger
In traditional applications the cold generating system is carried on board the
vehicle or container, which costs valuable load capacity. With this in mind, the
company came up with a different solution, a stationary quick charging system
that stays at the operational base, while
a Cold Battery or beam on board provides cold for daily operation. By taking
the condenser off board, about 150 kilograms extra load capacity is created.
The cold can be made by any refrigeration system available. This could be
a cold storage facility, a stand-alone
refrigeration system, or liquid nitrogen
(LN). The major advantage of the liquid
nitrogen charging system is its extremely short charging time, which increases
operational workload. The Cold Charger
is a flexible, low cost system and universally applicable. It can charge multiple
vehicles or containers at the same time.
The new charging product has been
tailor-made for remote charging of the
Cold Battery and the cold beam. Another version of the Cold Charger uses
a cryogenic cold source (for example
Liquid Nitrogen) or can rely on a cold
store refrigeration installation. The new
Cold Charger has performed very well
and is easy to operate. A number of
units will shortly be shipped to customers in Germany and the UK.
Fresh Logistics Magazine | 2-2016
Refrigeration and Cooling Units
month free trial period and a buy back
guarantee.
Eco-conscious
The new charging product has been tailor-made for remote charging of the Cold
Battery and the cold beam.
Challenges
The market for transport refrigeration
equipment is already dominated by
some globally operating companies,
that have very similar products, forced
air refrigeration systems that rely on
combustion engines for power. These products are so well established
that most users have no idea that alternatives exist. Furthermore, it is a
very conservative market with a riskaverse customer base. Therefore, the
company’s strategy is to avoid headon competition with the traditional
transport refrigeration equipment suppliers and instead focus on emerging
markets, like urban distribution, home
delivery, and other areas which require
product solutions that meet increasing
society concerns about environment
and sustainability. They offer solutions
that significantly reduce the total cost
of ownership, that are simple to operate and do not require an elaborate service network infrastructure. Currently,
a calculation tool is being developed
to demonstrate to potential clients,
the advantages of BoTemp’s product.
It provides information based on the
client’s vehicle with regard to factors
such as equipment purchase cost,
energy and maintenance cost, weight
and comparison energy cost, BoTemp
versus diesel driven systems.
To further convince potential clients,
the company offers a limited three-
The BoTemp thermal energy storage
technology makes it possible to create
environmental friendly solutions in various ways. First, the refrigeration system does not require to be connected
with a power source at all times since
it relies on stored thermal energy. Secondly, the charging of the system can
consequently take place when conditions are most favorable, with regard
to the source of energy and cost. The
Cold Battery and beams refrigeration
systems are completely emission free
and noiseless. By using a BoTemp cold
bharger both weight and F-gas is removed from the vehicle, which increases
the payload capacity and eliminates
F-gas certification of the vehicle. All
products are manufactured with recyclable and harmless materials.
Availability
The company already serves an extensive clientele that includes global companies. However, with the new products
the initial focus will be the Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, UK/Ireland
and Scandinavia. Thereafter they plan
to possibly go to other parts of Europe
and the world. With the new products
the company offers similar temperature control characteristics as current
conventional forced air systems. Their
thermal energy storage technology can
also be used in stationary cold stores as
a back-up refrigeration source, be part
of a contingency system and be used as
energy demand management tool.
Advertisement
New Container for the fish industry
From fishing in the sea up to the fish department in the supermarket: The Utz fish container
proves its value on each level of logistics
from fishing to presentation at the POS.
http://fperformance.utzinfo.com
utz_anzeige_ENG_167x62_fisch_03_2016.indd 1
16.03.16 15:53