SBIR Phase I: Adaptable Refrigeration Cycles for Smart Mini-Containers

SBIR 第一阶段：智能迷你容器的适应性制冷循环

• 批准号: 2212910
• 负责人: Jesus Villalobos
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: FRESHKUBE INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2212910&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Adaptable; Refrigeration; Cycles

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project includes reductions in food waste, energy use, and carbon emissions by developing a highly efficient and adaptable system for refrigerated transport. Mini-containers, which are small, insulated boxes with environments controlled by a central driving unit that contains a refrigerator and other environmental controls are proposed. The technology may increase the economic feasibility of small farms by allowing them to target a more resilient, efficient, and potentially carbon-neutral cold supply chain. The potential impact of the research includes improved availability of nutritious food for the general population and mitigation of negative environmental effects of cold logistics. Additionally, mitigating food waste will create savings up and down the supply chain.Two key technical challenges are addressed in this research. The first area has, as its main objective, the development of a volume-adaptable refrigeration system that allows for the efficient operation of several levels of control to best adapt to high levels of cooling capacity needs. The second area of research corresponds to the development of the methodology and solutions algorithms to exercise a hybrid control strategy for the optimal scheduling operation of the refrigeration system. The archetype refrigeration system would be subject to constraints imposed by the heterogeneous loads stored in the different special storage and transportation units known as mini-containers which receive cooling and other environmental services. This technology will allow for efficiently aggregating, storing, disaggregating, and distributing fresh products in the mini-containers. The mini-containers will allow the emergence of efficient cold logistics for small loads by enabling the capacity of large transportation containers to be split among multiple conveyances. The proposed solution will also make it possible to convert almost any truck into a refrigerated truck and any warehouse into a cold storage facility, supporting the emergence of sharing economies in cold logistics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该SBIR I期项目的更广泛影响包括通过开发高效且适应性的系统来减少食物浪费，能源使用和碳排放，以冷藏运输。提出了一个小型的隔热盒，带有由中央驾驶单元控制的环境，其中包含冰箱和其他环境控制。该技术可以通过允许其瞄准更具弹性，高效且潜在的碳中性冷供应链来提高其经济可行性。这项研究的潜在影响包括提高营养食品对普通人群的可用性以及减轻冷物流的负面环境影响。此外，减轻食物浪费将在供应链上上下储蓄。这项研究在这项研究中提出了两个关键的技术挑战。作为其主要目标，第一个领域的开发是具有体积适应的制冷系统的开发，该系统允许有效地运行多个级别的控制，以最佳地适应高水平的冷却能力需求。研究的第二个领域对应于方法和解决方案算法的开发，以对制冷系统的最佳调度操作行使混合控制策略。原型制冷系统将受到存储在不同的特殊存储和运输单元中的非均质负载所施加的，称为迷你容器，这些载体可接受冷却和其他环境服务。 这项技术将允许在迷你容器中有效汇总，存储，分解和分发新鲜产品。小型容器将通过使大型运输容器的容量在多个运输工具之间分配，从而使小额负载有效地出现了有效的冷物流。拟议的解决方案还将使几乎所有卡车将几乎任何卡车和任何仓库转换为冷存储设施，从而支持寒冷物流中共享经济体的出现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来获得支持的。