Refrigerated trucks to keep their cool thanks to fuel cell technology
http://www.pnnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=1005[font face=Serif][font size=5]Refrigerated trucks to keep their cool thanks to fuel cell technology[/font]
August 23, 2013
Tom Rickey, PNNL, (509) 375-3732
[font size=4]Refrigerated trucks equipped with hydrogen fuel cells to make deliveries in three markets[/font]
[font size=3]RICHLAND, Wash. Grocery merchants in Texas, California and New York will soon have ice cream, frozen foods and fresh produce delivered by tractor trailers whose refrigeration units are powered by fuel cells, a clean technology that makes energy silently and with dramatically reduced emissions.
The fuel cells will do the work normally done by a small diesel engine, which keeps the cargo at the proper temperature while the trucks are making deliveries. Each of the four trucks will still be equipped with a main diesel engine that actually powers the truck.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is overseeing the project, believe this will be the first time that refrigerated trucks making deliveries have been equipped with a fuel cell a device that creates electricity by driving chemical reactions using hydrogen and air. The only byproducts are heat and water.
"This is a great application for a fuel cell," said Kriston Brooks, the PNNL researcher leading the project. "A trailer refrigeration unit traditionally is powered by a small diesel engine or electric motor that drives compressors to provide cooling to the cargo. A fuel cell can potentially provide a clean, quiet and efficient alternative by powering the electric motor."
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