Reefer Units
These modern marvels are being eyed by clean air authorities.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
Mechanical refrigeration units are among the modern marvels that give us a high standard of living. A huge variety of food, household and commercial products are transported to us even though they must be chilled, frozen, heated or kept at some specified temperature en route. But reefer units have diesels that produce exhaust emissions, and now they're being eye-balled by clean air authorities.
Trucks that run in areas where air pollution is a persistent problem may be affected by new clean air initiatives. While most anti-pollution laws and regulations around the country exempt engines that are actually working - and this includes refrigeration units - there is pressure in some areas, such as California, to shut down those engines when the truck or trailer is standing still.
For several years, local and state officials have required idling truck engines to be turned off at large grocery distribution centers in the Los Angeles area, where surrounding neighbors have complained about fumes. The next step is reefer engines, and the California Air Resources Board has begun offering pollution-abatement credits to facilities that install and use electric outlets to power reefers.
Reefer manufacturers are getting more inquiries from West Coast customers about standby electric units, which operate on 220- or 370/440-volt power. Equipment includes a large motor that runs the compressor so the diesel engine can be shut off. This switches the origin of pollution from the truck to a power plant somewhere, but authorities can more easily watch its stacks than the tail pipes of thousands of trucks.
The switchover from diesel to standby electric power is automatic. When the stand-by cord is plugged in, the reefer's microprocessor controls automatically shut off the diesel and its centrifugal clutch disengages, allowing the motor to run the compressor through a belt drive. Unplugging the standby reverses the switchover.
Fleet managers complain that standby equipment is too heavy and too expensive. Depending on whether it's in a truck or trailer reefer, the hefty motor and associated gear adds about 50 to 200 pounds and 10% to 12% in cost to a mechanical reefer. The weight is right in the truck body or trailer's nose, which is the most awkward spot, and the cost can probably never be recovered in fuel savings. The threat of citations can make standby an economical proposition, though companies hate to use that for justification.
Electric standby equipment is not new. One manufacturer's engineer said it goes on 99% of reefers sold in Western Europe, where noise is an issue at distribution centers that have been surrounded by cities. Also, many trucks use ferries to cross the English Channel, Baltic Sea and other bodies of water. While aboard, truckers must shut down all engines, including those on reefers. Plug-ins are provided at the DCs and on ferry parking decks.
Will plug-ins proliferate in America? That depends almost solely on laws and regulations regarding emissions and perhaps noise. Many are in force that prohibit the idling of truck engines that are doing no work, and fines are hefty - $200 or more for first offenses in New Jersey, for example, and an enforcement sweep in August targeted trucks parked at convenience stores, among other places. Both drivers and property owners were cited.
New Jersey authorities are aware that truckers at rest need to be comfortable, and are encouraging electrification projects at truckstops. Next, they intend to look at large port terminals where plug-ins might allow truckers to cool their cabs and sleepers with shore power rather than by idling their engines.
Truckstop electrification is a glacially slow process because operators say few trucks have equipment that needs it, so installation of expensive plug-ins and metering equipment is futile. And truckers complain that they can't find outlets to hook up to, so why buy electric-powered accessories?
The same factors may affect electrification of distribution centers, shipping and receiving docks and maybe even consignees' parking lots. Lawmakers may eventually reason that if truckers can plug in their trucks, why not their reefers? A 220-volt outlet wouldn't cost a restaurateur that much to install, for instance. Shouldn't they do that so a delivery truck could plug into it? That may seem far-fetched, but never say never.
