Computer simulation with TRNSYS for a mobile refrigeration system incorporating a phase change thermal storage unit

Highlights: • A mobile refrigeration system incorporating phase change thermal storage was simulated using TRNSYS. • A TRNSYS component of a phase change thermal storage unit was created and linked to other components from TRNSYS library. • The temperature in the refrigerated space can be predicted using this TRNSYS model under various conditions. • A mobile refrigeration system incorporating PCM and an off-peak electric driven refrigeration unit is feasible. • The phase change material with the lowest melting temperature should be selected. - Abstract: This paper presents a new TRNSYS model of a refrigeration system incorporating phase change material (PCM) for mobile transport. The PCTSU is charged by an off-vehicle refrigeration unit and the PCM provides cooling when discharging and the cooling released is utilized to cool down the refrigerated space. The advantage of this refrigeration system compared to a conventional system is that it consumes less energy and produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. A refrigeration system for a typical refrigerated van is modelled and simulations are performed with climatic data from four different locations. The main components of the TRNSYS model are Type 88 (cooling load estimation) and Type 300 (new PCTSU component), accompanied by other additional components. The results show that in order to maintain the temperature of the products at −18 °C for 10 h, a total of 250 kg and 390 kg of PCM are required for no door opening and 20 door openings during the transportation, respectively. In addition, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effects of location, size of the refrigerated space, number of door openings and melting temperature of the PCM on the thermal performance