Solomon Commercials Partner with the University of Manchester.

The average temperature controlled Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) travels over 130000 km and has a fuel cost of around £30,000 per year. In the context of the rise of fuel price, it becomes crucial to improve the performance of rigid refrigerated HGVs via investment and further study.

By definition, these refrigerated vehicles are heavy (more than 3.5 tonnes) and require a high amount of fuel and power to maintain their speed during their journeys.

On average, fuel consumption is distributed over the following losses: engine (60%), aerodynamics (21%), rolling resistance (13%) and other sources (6%). Today, HGV engines are more efficient than passenger cars engines, and work is well underway to improve this further with the introduction of hybrid engines.

This means that aerodynamics is the second biggest source of energy losses and enhancing vehicle aerodynamics can significantly improve energy efficiency, leading to a tangible reduction in fuel consumption. Refrigerated Trucks spend most of their operating time at relatively high and constant velocity, where 85% of the energy produced by the engine is used to overcome aerodynamic losses and rolling resistance.

In this context, our customers are increasingly alert to the need to focus on the aerodynamic shape of rigid refrigerated HGVs and as industry leaders in refrigerated vehicle manufacturing its our responsibility to advance this study.

Alistair Revell – Professor of Computational Engineering, Head of Department of Mech & Aero Engineering, said.

” Despite significant work on consumer automotive aerodynamics, there has been relatively little focus on refrigerated vehicles. It is highly likely that significant gains in aerodynamic efficiency can still be made for these vehicles, which would translate to sizeable reductions in fuel consumption.”

“ We are extremely fortunate to be partnering with Solomon Commercials who have the foresight to focus on novel aerodynamic solutions and a flexible approach to problem solving. This offers the opportunity to bring cutting-edge research to the real world in a short space of time. ”

Mark Hanson – Technical Director Solomon Commercials, said.

“ Our continued goal is to delivery innovative transport systems that our customers know will help reduce their environmental impact while transporting temperature sensitive commodities across multiple sectors safely and efficiently.

“ Our association with The University of Manchesters’ Department of Mech & Aero Engineering outlines our commitment to reducing energy costs and supporting our customers journey to a more sustainable fleet ”

Solomon Commercials investment in The University of Manchester to study this topic and see if we can further improve the aerodynamically optimised refrigerated truck with an aim to reduce energy losses and costs to our customers.

As a leading refrigerated vehicle manufacturers ranging in size and configuration from small rigid truck of 3.5 tonnes to cab-trailers of 26 tonnes this study is hugely beneficial.

The addition of the fridge unit presents the main difference versus standard HGVs, and introduces an additional complication for aerodynamics. Very little information is available in literature regarding the impact of the fridge unit integration on a regular HGV.

Since it is generally located above the cabin, it has a large influence on the drag of the overall vehicle as it disturbs the incoming flow at the front of the vehicle. Improvements made here can impact the aerodynamic performance along the top of the cab and further down the vehicle.

Researchers in The University of Manchester’s Modelling & Simulation Centre have used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study the development of turbulent flow around the cab-mounted fridge unit as foundation to better understand this.

The main objective of this partnership is to provide a framework to investigate the impact of the fridge unit on a rigid HGV geometry and the potential for aerodynamic improvement. The greatest benefit would be realised on long-haul trips where the aerodynamic devices would be twice as efficient compared with an urban driving cycle.

From a financial point of view, fuel represents around 30% of the spending for the operational cost of a truck. On average, the cost of fuel over a year is around £30,000.

However, by improving aerodynamics performance by 25% and assuming a conservative gain of 10% in terms of fuel consumption, this would lead to an average saving of £3,000 per year per truck.

By understanding the flow around a HGV body and by enhancing aerodynamic performances, large savings can be made in terms of fuel consumption, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and costs of operation.

Our partnership with The University of Manchester underpins our commitment to our customers ambitions to drive down fuel costs and reduce overall emissions.