Solar-powered Air Conditioning System Developed for Trucks -- Tech-On!

Solar-powered Air Conditioning System Developed for Trucks -- Tech-On!

ICL Co Ltd, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp and Nippon Fruehauf Co Ltd co-developed an idling-stop air conditioning system that uses photovoltaic (PV) batteries for trucks.

The companies plan to conduct field tests of the system, "i-Cool Solar," aiming to commercialize it in the spring of 2012.

ICL released the "i-Cool," an air conditioner that stores electricity in a storage battery while the truck is moving and uses it when the engine is not in operation, May 24, 2010. This time, the company developed the i-Cool Solar by using Nippon Fruehauf's mount to install Mitsubishi Chemical's PV cell modules on the container of the truck and combining them with the i-Cool.

The i-Cool Solar can save about 1.8L of light oil per hour when the truck is not moving and reduce fuel consumption by about 1% when the truck is moving in the same manner as a normal 10t truck. As a result, the air conditioning system can save about 1,500L of light oil per year.