Hubbard Products has been chosen as the developer of a new and sustainable approach to vehicle refrigeration.

The announcement was made at the launch of the Centre for Low Carbon Futures Liquid Air on the Highway report setting out the business case for liquid air commercial vehicles in the UK, which took place on 4 June at The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders headquarters, in, London.

Published by the Liquid Air Energy Network, the Centre for Low Carbon Futures and the University of Birmingham, the report states that using liquid air as a combined motive and refrigerant source and with a projected UK fleet of 13,000 refrigerated transport units by 2025, cumulative savings of £76m and a reduction of 880,000tCO₂e can be achieved. A fleet of this size would reduce annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by over 1,800 tonnes and harmful particulate matter (PM) by 180 tonnes. The reduction in Particulate Matter equates to removing 367,000 Euro 6 lorries from service - more than three times the entire UK articulated lorry fleet. (Euro 6 is the current - 2014 - European Commission diesel engine emission legislation).

Working with the Dearman Engine Company, Hubbard Products will use Dearman’s liquid air engine, that produces zero carbon emissions, as the power source for a range of transport refrigeration units (TRU).

The transport refrigeration units will for the first time use liquid nitrogen (air) as both the motive power and as a subsidiary cooling medium. Liquid Nitrogen is a well-known cryogenic medium and is already used as a coolant in some larger TRU’s.

Speaking at the launch, Hubbard’s managing director , Pat Maughan, said: “This is a very exciting project for Hubbard and we are extremely pleased to have been chosen as the preferred partner by the Dearman Engine Company to develop applications for their revolutionary new power source. The Liquid Air on the Highway report states that regulating emissions from TRUs would be a timely and cost-effective way of reducing pollution that causes 29,000 premature deaths in Britain each year, we will be truly proud to help deliver product efficiency that will have a real human impact”.

Hubbard will use a Dearman Engine running on liquefied air (held in an unpressurised insulated container at -194°C) to drive the compressor units of a TRU. The Dearman Engine injects liquid air with a small amount of antifreeze into the engine cylinder, the liquid air re-gasifies on exposure to the ambient temperature, expanding by 700 times its volume creating a non-percussive (quiet) source of drive for a piston or turbine. The expanded, cold gas is emitted and recovered to be used within the TRU as ‘free-issue’ refrigeration before finally being expelled as air.

The Hubbard/Dearman Liquid Air project is part of Hubbard’s long-term business model and comes at a time when the company is planning a purpose built unit close to its current Suffolk base, that will accommodate new product development, manufacturing and engineering facilities associated with the development of sustainable refrigeration technologies.