Aviation
ETIHAD CARGO
AND MASDAR
INSTITUTE DESIGN
SUSTAINABLE CARGO
DOLLY SYSTEM FOR
TEMPERATURE
SENSITIVE CARGO AT
ABU DHABI
INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
Innovative Cool Dolly
System will be Smart,
Temperature-Controlled,
Sustainable and EnergyEfficient
T
he Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an
independent,
research-driven
graduate-level university focused
on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, and Etihad
Cargo, the fast-growing cargo
division of Etihad Airways, today
jointly announced the launch of
a new design for a smart, temperature-controlled, sustainable
and energy-efficient air cargo
container (cool dolly) system.
tween the aircraft to the storage
compartments in the cargo warehouses, providing Etihad Cargo
and the Abu Dhabi International
Airport a unique competitive
advantage over other airports.
The new hybrid cool dolly design incorporates the use of innovative thermoelectric module
technologies, modified compressor units, and a custom-made
power bank that can be attached
to solar panels for sustainable recharging, ensuring that
the temperature can be regulated to meet the needs of temperature-sensitive cargo while
minimising power consumption.
News
and harsh weather conditions we
sometimes face here in the UAE.”
From Masdar Institute’s side,
the research project is led by
Dr. Sameh El Khatib, Assistant
Professor, and Dr. Mohamed
Omar, Professor, both of the Engineering Systems and Management Department, with Dr. Vinod
Khadkikar, Associate Professor
of Electrical Power Engineering.
A team of researchers at Masdar
Institute, led by Research Engineer Anas Fakhri and consisting
of students – Hamda Al Mazroue,
Noura Al Hassani, and Abdulla Al
Shehhi – are handling the technical design and testing of the
cool dolly. Pablo Brizzio, one of
Etihad’s senior cargo managers,
is working closely with the research team at Masdar Institute
to develop a design that meets
the
technical
requirements
and operational constraints.
At present, many international airports and ground-handling teams
around the world employ transportation dollies that are dieselpowered, with energy-intensive
cooling units which are expensive
to operate and often do not meet
all performance requirements.
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