Case Study

In order to check if our system worth doing, we did a study case where we compare our system with a competitive one, solar panels system. The calculation based on a truck travels from San Francisco to San Diego about 500 miles for 8 hours. The truck engine has an average of 6 gallons per mile, and the engine of the refrigerant unit has an average 0.74 gallons per hour, thermo king refrigerant unit. First scenario, a truck traveling without deflector nor a system that produce power, the total cost of fuel came up to be $233.56. Second scenario, a truck traveling with solar panels on the roof of the cargo with an area of 30 m^2, the total cost of fuel came up to be $222.435. Furthermore, in the case of solar panels we neglected the weights that the solar panels add to the truck and we assumed a perfect sun angle with an efficiency of 15%. The power produced by the solar panels came up to be 36 kwh which covers 68% of the power the fridge needs. Finally, the 3^rd scenario, a truck traveling with our system, the total cost of fuel came up to be $191.29. our system reduces the drag on the truck which reduces the use of fuel, and makes the refrigerant unit works when the truck is moving 55 miles per hour which we assumed in our calculation that the refrigerant unit will be working only 1 hour out of the 8-hour trip .