Carrier Transicold is donating two NaturaLINE® container refrigeration units to Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin). The donation supports commercial-scale research into transcritical carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigeration technology. It will help advance cooling systems designed to meet evolving environmental and regulatory requirements across the global cold chain.
The NaturaLINE system uses natural refrigerant for refrigerated container shipping applications. CO₂ is a naturally occurring refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of 1. This makes it a lower-GWP alternative to traditional synthetic refrigerants used in commercial cooling. Improving the performance and efficiency of transcritical CO2 systems under a wide range of operating conditions remains a key focus of refrigeration research.
The Institute of Energy Engineering at TU Berlin will use the NaturaLINE units as a hands-on learning tool for graduate students. Fitted with basic instrumentation, the units will allow students to measure temperature profiles, system pressures and power consumption. It will help them learn directly on a real commercial system. Student will gain firsthand insight into how transcritical CO2 differs from conventional refrigeration cycles.
Supporting future refrigeration research
The units will also form part of the institute’s research infrastructure. Researchers plan to integrate and evaluate prototype components inside the units to develop and test future heating and cooling systems. Performance will be assessed through automated test sequences. Researchers also plan to conduct long-term performance evaluations across a range of operating conditions to better understand commercial-scale transcritical CO2 system behavior.
“We are excited to have access to the next-generation technology embodied in Carrier Transicold’s NaturaLINE refrigeration units in carrying out our research,” said Professor Stefan Elbel, Chair of Heat Transfer and Heat Conversion, Institute of Energy Engineering at Technische Universität Berlin. “As regulatory requirements tighten and the industry moves toward more sustainable refrigeration solutions, advancing this technology is critical. We hope this marks the beginning of a long-term research collaboration with Carrier Transicold.”
Advancing the connected cold chain
By supporting this research, Carrier Transicold is helping advance the study of more sustainable refrigeration technologies for the connected cold chain.
“Transcritical CO2 systems are an important technology for our industry. We are proud to support TU Berlin’s Institute of Energy Engineering’s work in this space,” said Jean-Marie Carvalho, Vice President & General Manager, Global Container, Carrier Transicold. “By providing researchers with access to NaturaLINE container refrigeration units, we can help accelerate understanding of system performance. It also means we can support future innovation and contribute to the development of more sustainable cold chain solutions.”
