The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Technology Institute (AHRTI), is to receive $2m from the US Department of Energy to fund research on low GWP refrigerants.
The AHRTI – the research arm of the AHRI – is to develop a low-GWP refrigerant database in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It is intended that it will provide US manufacturers with accurate refrigerant data to design, manufacture, and commercialise efficient and reliable HVACR products using more environmentally-friendly refrigerants.
As part of the programme, ORNL will develop heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for new refrigerants, which will be used to design and optimise heat exchangers. NIST will measure property data of low-GWP refrigerant blends and implement them into the NIST Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database (REFPROP).
AHRTI says the more accurate data will improve confidence in the selection and optimisation of blends for particular applications. It will establish a database for the thermal and chemical stability of low-GWP refrigerants, including lubricants and the long-term compatibility with materials commonly used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems.
