A survey of computational and experimental studies on refrigerated trucks

The cold chain represents a sensitive component that directly affects the food safety of our society. Refrigerated transport is one of the riskiest steps that could break it. During transportation, the control of internal temperature and delivery times is essential to preserve and improve the quality and shelf life of foodstuffs, and to reduce their level of health hazard. This article reviews the current state of experimental research and numerical simulations on refrigerated trucks for the transport and storage of foodstuffs. A variety of solutions and suggestions to improve the quality and safety of food during their transportation are outlined. The key aspects related to the temperature-controlled transport of these products as well as the performance improvements of pre-cooling units and the design of trucks described in the literature are investigated.