Solar energy shows that the container temperature is too high

At 07:00 AM, the heat energy from solar radiation begins entering the walls. Heat accumulation slowly begins to increase reaching the maximum penetration at 2:00 PM. The effect of heat absorption, at maximum penetration, causes the inner surface of the container walls to increase the temperature by around 4.3°C.

Formulae display:? Temperature increases due to solar radiation exposure in the container walls of a refrigerated container affects its energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to simulate thermal effect of solar radiation on the temperature increases on the refrigerated container surfaces by means of computational fluid dynamics.

The effect of heat absorption, at maximum penetration, causes the inner surface of the container walls to increase the temperature by around 4.3°C. This result is based on the finding of an increase in wall temperature inside the refrigerated container; both of measurement and simulation obtained consistent heat penetration on the wall.

displays the simulation results of heat accumulation on the container walls. This simulation considers the solar radiation in clear-sky condition, with the constant supply air temperature inside the container at 0°C. At 07:00 AM, the heat energy from solar radiation begins entering the walls.

Good question, let's work it out. Energy consumption for a refrigerated container depends on a bunch of different factors (set-point temperature for the cooled space, ambient conditions, system efficiency, etc.), but the “Container Handbook” suggests an average value of 3,600 W per TEU which sounds good to me.

In recent years a performance of container terminal operation in terms of energy consumption has been a trend to compete of infrastructure services, . Reduction of energy consumption has direct impacts on emissions, minimize the environment effect and reduces operational costs, .