Conference Year
2018
Keywords
GWP, refrigerant, refrigeration, air conditioning, nonflammable
Abstract
It is well known that R-410A is the predominant refrigerant used globally in air conditioning systems. However, there has recently been growing interest in 410A use in commercial refrigeration applications in Japan. Along with the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down use of HFCs, Japan has enacted HFC regulations with specific GWP limits. For commercial condensing units and larger refrigeration systems, a GWP limit of < 1500 GWP will be implemented starting in 2025. To address the need for a lower GWP R-410A alternative, a nonflammable hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant mixture with named XP41 (R-463A pending) has been developed. XP41 is a five-component mixture of HFO-1234yf using HFC-32, 125, and 134a and a small amount of CO2. HFO-1234yf is included in the formulation to reduce the GWP. HFC-32 and CO2 have been added to increase the cooling capacity and provide comparable performance to R-410A. For large building air conditioning where variable refrigerant flow (VRF) use is growing, there is also a significant challenge to safely use flammable refrigerants due to large charge sizes. XP41 could potentially address this need as well This paper will provide detailed information on the properties and other key characteristics of XP41, including drop-in testing in an air conditioning system.