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Carrier Air Conditioning - The Refrigerant Issue
Alternative Refrigerants
All the potential replacements for CFC’s and HCFC’s are already known.
There will not be a miracle `silver bullet’ refrigerant discovered. Of the
known alternatives, four are worthy of more detailed comment; water,
ammonia, hydrocarbons and HFC’s (hydroflurocarbons).
Water
Water has excellent environmental credentials as it has no ozone depletion
potential (ODP) and a negligible direct global warming potential (GWP).
The thermophysical properties of water mean that it cannot be cost
effectively used in conventional vapour compression cycles and is only
found in the absorption refrigeration cycle. Whilst absorption chillers have
their applications, particularly in conjunction with Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) systems, their size, cost, poor efficiency and limited application range
preclude their use for most air conditioning systems.
Ammonia
Ammonia too has excellent environmental credentials, no ODP and no
GWP. It has been extensively used for many years in industrial refrigeration,
food processing and breweries. Ammonia has only recently found (limited)
usage in air conditioning applications.
Despite its advantages ammonia has some significant drawbacks; it is
highly toxic, concentrations of 0.5% v/v can be rapidly fatal. It is also
flammable at concentrations of between 15 to 28 per cent (v/v) in air. Whilst
the highly noxious smell of ammonia aids leak detection its extreme
unpleasantness can also induce panic. The new European Standard
EN378 imposes limits on the use of ammonia.
Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbons offer excellent environmental credentials having no ODP and
no GWP. Hydrocarbons have previously only been used in large industrial
refrigeration systems and, very recently, in domestic refrigerators.
Hydrocarbons have one principal disadvantage, their flammability/
explosiveness. It is worth noting that 1kg of hydrocarbon has the same
explosive potential as 1 kg of TNT. The current and proposed limitations on
the use of hydrocarbons are even more severe than those applied to ammonia.
Because of their safety implications and application restrictions, Carrier
does not believe that ammonia or hydrocarbons are suitable for the majority
of commercial air conditioning systems and has therefore concentrated their
attention on the last group of alternatives, described below.
Hydroflurocarbons (HFC’s)
Carrier believes that 3 HFC’s will come to dominate commercial air
conditioning over the next few years.
R407C – a Zeotropic blend
R134a – a single substance
R410A – an azeotropic blend
R407C
R407C is a zeotropic blend that has been specifically formulated to exhibit
thermo physical properties that are similar to R22.
Contrary to initial expectations, R407C does not offer the same performance
as R22.
Whilst the specific heat of vaporisation and the volumetric characteristics
are similar to R22, the heat transfer performance is poorer during both
evaporation and condensation. As a consequence most R407C units show
reduced cooling capacities and/or coefficients of performance when
compared to the R22 machines from which they are derived.
Since R407C is a zeotrope, the mixture will fractionate should a leak occur
from a part of the system that contains both vapour and liquid. Service
techniques have to be adapted in the light of this characteristic. After a
significant leak, the unit should be evacuated, repaired and then recharged
with new R407C.
As a zeotrope, R407C exhibits a phenomenon known as ‘glide’, that is
changing state (evaporating or condensing) over a range of temperatures.
Glide has an adverse effect on the performance of conventional, mixed flow,
shell and tube heat exchangers. For best performance, R407C should be
used in plant with counterflow plate heat exchangers.
Glide can also increase the risk of freeze-up, in the event of a loss of flow
or a localised restriction in the evaporator. For this reason, Carrier
recommends that glycol be used in the chilled water loop for leaving fluid
temperatures of below 5ºC.
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Carrier recommends the use of R407C in chillers and heat pumps as the
refrigerant of choice in the low to medium capacity range (15 kW – 250 kW).
R134a
R134a is widely used as a refrigerant in centrifugal chillers and automobile
air conditioning, as a propellant in pharmaceutical applications and as the
principal component in many HFC blends.
It does not exhibit glide and therefore presents no unusual application or
service restrictions. Its low operating pressures make it particularly suitable
for use in heat pumps and high ambient air cooled applications. R134a has
good thermo physical properties and favourable heat transfer
characteristics, consequently it offers good COPs.
The high volume flows of R134a (compared to R22) mean that it is
particularly suited to centrifugal and high speed screw compression. Where
such compressor technology exists, R134a requires no premium in plant
size or cost and offers advantages over R407c in service and maintenance
procedures.
R410A
R410A’s properties are somewhat different to other common refrigerants;
it has a very high refrigeration effect and operating pressures that are
approximately 50% higher than R22. Its heat transfer performance is also
better than that of R22, R134a and R407C.
Although R410A is a blend (50% R32, 50% R125) it is a near azeotrope
and as such does exhibit any significant glide nor shift composition as it
moves through the refrigeration cycle. This greatly simplifies service and
maintenance procedures.
Because of the high operating pressures, significant re-design of the
principal components has been necessary. This work is now bearing fruit
and Carrier recently launched the first medium sized packaged air-cooled
chiller using R410A. This unit, the 30RB uses the superior performance of
R410A and multiple hermetic scroll compressors to deliver exceptional
energy efficiency.
R410A has rapidly replaced R407C as the preferred refrigerant in split
systems, mini chillers and some packaged units and we can expect this
trend to continue.
R404A
If used as a substitute for R22, R404A will yield a slightly higher cooling
capacity but at a reduced efficiency. This, coupled with the very high direct
global warming potential of R404A (3750 vs 1300 for R134a), means that
R404A units must inevitably yield significantly higher TEWI’s than the
R134A and R407C equivalents. For this reason, Carrier does not believe
that R404A will have a significant part to play as a long term replacement
for R22.
F Gas Directive
The next piece of legislation affecting the usage of refrigerants will be the
F Gas Directive. This legislation seeks to address the real environmental
issue with the HFC refrigerants, namely their direct contribution to global
warming, should they leak into the atmosphere. As such, the F gas Directive
contains a number of practical measures designed to limit leakage of
refrigerants.
These measures include regular, mandatory inspection of systems for
leakage, much more rigorous record keeping so that consumption of
refrigerant can be monitored, and mandatory training and certification of all
those who work with refrigerants.
The F Gas Directive was passed by the European Parliament during 2006
and comes into effect in early 2007.
Conclusion
In Carrier’s view, R134a offers considerable advantages over R407C for
most medium/large equipment applications, because of the performance
and simplicity in service and maintenance that it offers.
However, the benefits of R134a can only be fully realised where the
appropriate compressor technology capable of handling the higher gas
flows cost effectively is available.
Where this is not the case, R410A offers the best performance and is rapidly
becoming the refrigerant of choice for split systems, package units and
medium sized chillers.