FACTORS AFFECTING THE AGEING OF REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

摘要

The performance of insulated enclosures for refrigerated vehicles is usually characterized by their overallrninsultation coefficient (“K coefficient”). The insulation performance is ageing during the time. This ageingrnaffects the refrigeration and environmental performances of the vehicles and may have a significant cost onrntheir exploitation as well as on their lifetime. To better understand the phenomena involved in the ageingrnprocess, experimental assessment of the real ageing based on key life periods of a representative number ofrnvehicles was performed. This assessment highlighted the discrepancy between the K coefficient of in-servicernvehicles and their prototypes, while the international agreement and the current Regulation base theirrnperformance classification on prototypes, not on series products. This analysis also allowed to evaluate thernimpact of some vehicles accessories on the ageing.