Road transport of perishable commodities is as dependable as the truck that is used. Insulated bodies that mount to a truck chassis and maintain a controlled temperature for food, pharmaceutical and other temperature sensitive products from loading dock to delivery door. It could be a small light-truck load or a big pantech with several pallets; the choice of body can make or break whether goods arrive in pristine condition or if the load has to be written off.
Types of Refrigerated Truck Bodies and What They Carry
Not all loads require the same setup, and the majority of refrigerated truck bodies come in three basic types. Chilled bodies are the standard range for anything that requires to remain cold but not frozen and are typically used for fresh produce, dairy, meat and pharmaceuticals and are between about +4°C to +12°C. They are designed to be used with a lighter refrigeration unit and work well on multi drop delivery routes. Frozen bodies work with frozen products that have a body temperature of approximately -18°C to -25°C, and they are the ideal option for ice cream distributors, seafood processors, and frozen foods manufacturers or processors. They can also handle long-haul flights better when the ambient temperatures are hot, which is when they’ll be most stressed. The multi-temp bodies divide a single cargo space into multiple temperature zones, using the internal bulkheads and separate evaporators and are ideal for cafés, supermarkets and catering fleets that require to carry chilled and frozen product on the same run.
How a Refrigerated Truck Body Keeps Temperature Steady
The body-mounted refrigeration unit performs the function of removing heat from the cargo area. Refrigerant gas is compressed, and this compressed gas is condensed through a condenser to be turned into liquid refrigerant by giving away heat. The liquid passes through an expansion valve, which causes it to cool drastically, and then flows through the body to the evaporator. The refrigerant absorbs the heat from the warm air passing over it from the cargo compartment, and the process continues indefinitely to maintain a constant cargo temperature. The insulation, door seals and floor construction of the body is as important as the unit itself since it affects how much cold is kept inside each time the doors are opened.
Choosing the Right Body for Your Fleet
The decision is made based on four parameters: Payload, Route Type, Temperature Range and Duty Cycle. The first rule is payload the larger the body, the more run it can carry and the smaller the body, the less run it can carry, so a full load of run is the first rule. The type of route goes hand-in-hand because multi drop deliveries open the doors constantly and require a unit to recover temperature quickly, while long hauls are gentler on the unit but are harder on the insulation. The temperature range will decide the build type as ‘chilled build’, ‘frozen build’ or ‘multi temp build’, and duty cycle will determine the strength of the compressor. A 12-hour-around-the-clock unit requires a more robust system than a unit that is on for a few hours during the morning collecting deliveries.
It ensures stock protection, helps avoid excessive costs and provides the fleet operator with a truck that performs for years, all while incorporating custom-built refrigerated truck bodies that are configured to the chassis and how the truck will be used.
