Every day, there is an intense circulation of road and rail vehicles transporting various sensitive goods: fresh fruits, meats, flowers, vaccines, organs, medical devices, or chemicals. To be safely transported and ensure they keep their properties, these goods need to be kept at a constant controlled temperature in appropriate vehicles equipped with the necessary equipment.
CEN/TC 413 ‘insulated means of transport for temperature sensitive goods with or without cooling and/or heating device’ plays a major role in developing standards that ensure the quality of this equipment.
Recently, the committee published an important new standard on the field: EN 16440-2:2023 ‘Testing methodologies for refrigerating devices for insulated means of transport - Part 2: Eutectic cooling devices’.
This European standard specifies testing methodologies applicable to eutectic cooling devices for insulated transport equipment (such as lorries, trailers, swap bodies, other transport equipment and wagons). The eutectic systems covered lower and/or maintain temperature using a homogeneous mixture that has a melting point lower than those of the constituents. These devices are used notably for the transport of food such as ice cream.
Charging of the eutectic elements from the liquid to the solid phase can be performed either by a compressor/condenser unit mounted onto the vehicle or by a stationary direct or indirect system. The eutectic cooling devices are equipped, if relevant, with necessary components for the charging, transmission, cooling and/or with temperature control devices.
With EN 16440-2:2023, CEN strengthens the European standardization portfolio necessary to ensure that sensitive goods are transported in the safest possible way.
The Secretariat of CEN/TC 413 is held by DIN, the German Standardization Institute.
