Curtain-style atmospheric barriers are ubiquitous within the cold chain arena. While better than nothing, their designs leave a lot to be desired, particularly by fleets and workers in the transportation segment of the business.
Workers hauling refrigerated loads have to contend with these primitive, curtain-style barriers after opening exterior doors on refrigerated trucks and trailers. Often made of heavy, vertical strips of plastic, the curtains are porous at best as a vapor barrier and create friction points for workers.
Because of their material design, weight, and cumbersome nature, the strips significantly reduce the working dimensions of any opening to which they are applied.
In an active reefer doorway, the strips are also prone to swing, striking workers and dislodging handheld cargo and making trips with heavy pallet jacks and hand trucks both difficult and frustrating.
“During our early field research, we observed countless situations in which workers tied or otherwise secured the strips out of the way, leaving the door without any atmospheric barrier during unloading,” says John Zimmerman, global director of new equipment sales for ASSA ABLOY High Performance Doors. “In many cases, we saw that the curtains had been compromised by being cut back or cut off altogether in order to make passage less cumbersome, thereby exposing cargo to the outside environment and potential contaminants.”
MISSION TO IMPROVE
As a global entrance systems solutions provider, ASSA ABLOY made solving the problem of plastic strip curtains on refrigerated vehicles its mission. Its field research was eye opening and revealed a frustrating reality for some of the fleet managers they spoke with in follow-up research interviews.
What ASSA ABLOY had uncovered was a dynamic tension between temperature control and food safety on one side and convenience and workflow productivity on the other. Fleets were caught in the middle. With an obvious vested interest in maintaining precise food-safe environments inside reefers, they were equally concerned with employee job satisfaction, particularly during the continuing driver and overall worker shortage. The problem was no secret among fleet managers and their maintenance departments, but there was no available solution to adequately address the problem.
“Frustration is the word I would use to characterize the common sentiment among fleets and workers alike, when it came to discussing strip curtains in our field interviews,” Zimmerman says. “It was clear that the strip curtains were a pinch point for everyone.”
Other curtain-style systems have recently been introduced, but these require workers to manually pull the curtain open and then manually pull it shut again. Zimmerman mused that the design also misses the ergonomic realities of cold chain cargo movement. “Reaching back to close a curtain while manually navigating cargo on a ramp or liftgate is pure folly,” he explains. “I would imagine that workers will simply leave the curtain open during deliveries—it’s just too cumbersome.”
THE SOLUTION
Based on its research, the engineers at ASSA ABLOY got to work. With a significant background in cold chain warehouse entry systems, the company was very familiar with both the mechanical and insulation requirements associated with operating doors in freezing temperatures. However, it was the company’s expertise in door automation that allowed it to design a novel door solution that truly addressed the problems associated with all curtain style barriers.
In March of 2022, ASSA ABLOY introduced the industry’s first automatic door for refrigerated trucks and trailers. The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door opens quickly, electronically senses the presence of workers and cargo passing through, and quickly closes once the passage is clear. The door is designed to help streamline the food delivery process and ensure a constant temperature and humidity barrier for reefer interiors.
The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door is an automatic entrance door solution for refrigerated truck fleets and owner-operators, providing temperature control, food chain security, and significant fuel savings while improving overall delivery efficiency. The door was specifically engineered for refrigerator and freezer applications and has been tested and validated to operate at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The door can be easily installed on the face of a reefer’s interior wall by OEMs or retrofit on existing trucks or trailers within just a few hours, and ASSA ABLOY will send technicians to train qualified customers on proper installation and service techniques. The system comes with its own plug-and-play modular wiring harness kit, and all cables and connectors remain accessible at the point of use for easy service and maintenance.
DOOR FEATURES
“The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door is far superior to curtain-style barriers, because when open, the entire 42-inch to 50 1/2-inch-wide doorway space remains obstacle free, and when closed, the door creates a tight seal around its entire periphery,” Zimmerman says. “With the push of a remote fob or interior-mounted button, the door opens and closes automatically within seconds, once the system’s electronic photo eye confirms that the passage is clear.”
A red LED light strip is mounted on both sides of the ASSA ABLOY MD2000 interior door frame and remains on when the door is closed to provide worker orientation in low-light conditions. The lights turn off when the door is open and begin flashing to signal when it is preparing to close.
The door’s closing cycles can be custom-programmed between 0 and 90 seconds. Once closed, the secure barrier only opens for authorized personnel to prevent theft and potential adulteration. The door eliminates the frustration associated with curtain-style barriers and makes undesirable barrier-defeating practices a thing of the past.
The flexible door features a large clear window panel and a soft bottom edge. It retracts if it encounters any resistance, protecting delivery workers and eliminating potential damage to cargo. The door will break away in the event of incidental contact and can be placed back into operational position in moments.
CHILLING OUT
The MD2000 reduces interior temperature variability during frequent stops, keeping food safer. By significantly reducing the time it’s open, the door also prevents humidity from entering the refrigerated space, inhibiting condensation, vision-diminishing fog, and dangerous surface ice from forming on floors.
The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door ensures product control and integrity and will also positively impact the bottom line of fleets and owner-operators alike. Formal studies have proven that by adding a high-performance door to the temperature-controlled food delivery process, fleets can enjoy fuel and energy savings of up to 40% as well as lower maintenance costs, because the doors reduce the number of defrost cycles.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and 2002 Bioterrorism Act were signed into law to ensure that the US food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door addresses these regulatory requirements by providing a more reliable and consistent physical barrier between the products and the outside environment that better protects food quality and safety.
“The ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door is designed to increase worker productivity and safety while preventing lost time from accidents,” Zimmerman says. “By providing a safe and efficient automation solution for entering and exiting the reefer environment, the door will help protect the integrity and safety of cargo delivered to customers and will prevent expensive product damage, spoilage, and redelivery costs resulting from high temperatures.”
COOL CUSTOMER
The intelligence and efficiency of the ASSA ABLOY automated reefer door caught the attention of one of the industry’s largest vocational vehicle body OEMs, JB Poindexter & Co., and its newest business unit, EAVX. Other JBPCO business units, include Morgan Truck Body, Morgan Olson, Reading Truck Group, Masterack, and Truck Accessories Group.
“EAVX is dedicated to creating the next generation of commercial vehicles by integrating body and chassis with leading-edge technology and innovation from VX Control,” says Mark Hope, chief operating officer and general manager of EAVX. “Connecting ASSA ABLOY’s automated reefer door with VX Control System by EAVX allows for an enhanced user experience, better integration to the vehicle’s digital infrastructure, and access to data that wasn’t easily available before.”
Morgan Truck Body recently unveiled its latest body innovation with the introduction of an electrified refrigerated concept truck body featuring the ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door.
“Morgan is at the forefront of our customers’ transition to an electrified refrigerated fleet,” says Tom Diez, vice president, sales and marketing at Morgan Truck Body. “We have been partnering and collaborating with OEMs, component suppliers, customers, and end users to drive the innovations on the electrified truck body we just unveiled.”
Mounted on a Lion Electric Lion6 chassis and using a recently introduced e1000 Thermo King all-electric refrigerated unit, the 24-ft truck body is constructed with state-of-the-art materials that are designed to maximize thermal efficiency and lighten the load.
“Advanced energy-saving features like ASSA ABLOY’s automated, high-speed side curtain door were a natural fit for this vehicle because it improves thermal efficiency, food chain security, and promotes significant energy savings by maintaining a constant temperature and humidity barrier for electric reefer truck interiors,” says Morgan Truck Body Vice President of Engineering Corby Stover. “The demand for electrification has been a catalyst for innovation, and the ASSA ABLOY MD2000 automated reefer door is one such innovation.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Find out more about ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems, visit www.assaabloyentrance.us.
