HANOVER, Germany, Wednesday, Sep 22, 2010 Carrier Transicold introduced its latest technological innovation, the Vector® 1550 trailer refrigeration unit, at the IAA Show today. Featuring all-electric technology, the Vector 1550 unit meets several challenges of the transport refrigeration industry, ensuring low energy consumption, enhanced environmental performance and maximum cold-chain protection.

The new Vector 1550 unit builds on the success of the Vector 1850 unit, combining a capacity of 14,800 W with lower fuel consumption. The optimized energy consumption of the Vector 1550 unit is achieved by a patented combination of a hermetic compressor with an economizer, enabling the use of a 1.5-liter diesel engine. The economizer function supplies up to a 40 percent increase in refrigeration capacity during pull-down, which is automatically reduced during the temperature regulation phase. By delivering adequate capacity according to the refrigeration phases, energy consumption is drastically reduced while maintaining exceptional cold-chain performance.

In addition, the Vector 1550 unit delivers faster temperature pull-down, reaching the desired set point up to 25 percent faster compared to conventional technology and with extremely precise temperature control (+/ 0.3 degrees Celsius). The all-electric technology provides the Vector 1550 unit with a constant heating capacity of 8,800 W regardless of weather conditions, which means the unit offers extremely fast defrost. Finally, homogeneous temperature distribution is achieved thanks to optimum airflow, up to 12 percent higher than with conventional technologies.

Excellent performance goes hand in hand with high reliability. Customers will benefit from Carrier Transicold’s industry-pioneering experience in all-electric technology for refrigerated trailer applications. Initially introduced by Carrier Transicold in the late-1990s, all-electric refrigeration technology removes a large number of serviceable parts from the refrigeration cycle, substantially reducing maintenance and downtime. A recently concluded 12-month survey on a 700-trailer fleet operated by a major UK retail chain showed a 99.4 percent availability rate with Vector-equipped trailers.

The Vector 1550 unit helps shipping customers and distribution operations improve perishable transport and delivery while diminishing environmental impact. With fewer parts and joints, Carrier’s patented all-electric technology dramatically reduces refrigerant leaks compared to conventional belt-driven technology. The Vector 1550 unit’s low fuel consumption reduces its overall carbon impact by up to 35 percent compared to conventional systems, the equivalent of removing 2.8 tons of CO2 per unit per year.

The Vector 1550 unit is also one of the lightest trailer refrigeration units on the market (739 kilograms) and operates with low noise emissions (71 decibels), which makes it ideal for urban applications and ensures excellent driver comfort for long-distance transport.

The Vector 1550 unit offers the straightforward LogiCOLD® control interface, a user-friendly controller with functions that can be customized to fit various distribution schemes and types of goods transported. The Vector 1550 unit also features the Foretrack® option, a web-based monitoring system that provides fleet managers with real time temperature and refrigeration unit information and enables remote diagnostics.

“Customers will benefit from the Vector 1550 unit’s consistency of temperature with optimized energy consumption for long haul transport applications and unrivalled temperature accuracy for distribution applications,” said Bertrand Gueguen, managing director, Carrier Transicold Europe. “The versatility of the Vector 1550 in transporting a variety of perishable and temperature-sensitive goods makes it the perfect fit for a wide range of logistical applications.”

The Vector 1550 refrigeration unit will be displayed at the IAA show in Hanover, from Sept. 23-30 in Hall 27, Stand E28.

For more information visit www.Vector1550.com