What’s being labeled as the world’s first shipping container using materials that store and release cold storage energy is now being delivered in China.
University of Birmingham experts worked with one of China’s biggest railway rolling stock companies to develop the cold storage road/rail container.
CRRC Shijiazhuang has now started to deliver the first order of 49 passively-cooled containers to Yunnan Su Lida Agricultural Products Supply Chain Co. Ltd. The containers are a performance-enhanced version of the launch units trailed in 2018.
The University’s Center for Energy Storage worked with CRRC Shijiazhuang to develop the container using phase change materials (PCMs) that store and release cold energy.
These “refrigerated” containers for integrated road/rail applications use PCM based cold storage technology, developed by Professor Yulong Ding and his team at Birmingham in collaboration with CRRC Shijiazhuang.
Once charged the technology can keep the interior of the container within a set temperature range for over one hundred hours.
For example, if the set temperature range is 5-12 ᵒC, one charge could last around 140 hours; however, the duration can be increased to around 194 hours if the set temperature range is 0-5 ˚C. A full charge for a container can be achieved in less than two hours.
Compared with traditional technologies which rely on diesel-powered refrigeration, these PCM cooled freight containers have the advantages of constant temperature control, passive cooling, energy-saving, and environmental benefits. The containers can easily be transferred between trains and trucks, offering enhanced flexibility across supply chains.
