EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Sharing experiences in natural refrigerants Groups of industry leaders across Europe have joined forces to provide information on the safe use of alternatives to high GWP HFCs in the form of hydrocarbons , ammonia , carbon dioxide , and low flammables through the REAL Alternatives learning programme .
The resources developed as part of the programme offer innovative blended learning — a mix of e-learning , faceto-face training materials , practical exercises , assessments and an e-library of learning resources ( containing over 100 useful industry resources ) — bringing together industry knowledge and expertise from across Europe about alternative refrigerants .
Industry stakeholders — drawn from employers , manufacturers , trade associations and professional institutes — have contributed learning material , advised on content , and helped to pilot and promote the programme as it developed .
The free multilingual learning materials were launched in 2015 and are now available for individual development or use as classroom training materials .
Visitors to the stand of IKKE — the German training centre at Duisburg , Germany and a stakeholder in REAL Alternatives Europe — gained insight to this highly commendable voluntary initiative .
Full recovery of all refrigerant RefriApp of Spain demonstrated a recovery and recycling unit able to remove all impurities from an HVAC & R system without any loss of refrigeration . Branded as the
Fri 3
Oil system , the unit is sold in 12 different countries . In Africa , one unit has been supplied to Angola .
In many countries , because of its high efficiency , the Fri 3
Oil is used to recover and recycle refrigerant from equipment destined for decommissioning or for scrapping . Any refrigerant trapped in the compressor oil is recovered before scrapping or decommissioning .
The patented Fri 3
Oil has the capacity to recycle HCFCs to a quality having less than 600ppm impurities and HCFs below 150ppm .
No cleansing agents are used in the recycling and the system can remove all the compressor oil . The effectiveness in removing all oil is ideal when retrofitting
HCFC charged systems with mineral oil to HFCs with POE or PAG oils .
RefriApp also manufactures the Leco leak detection system , which monitors the thermodynamic performance of fluorinated refrigerants in a system . By detection of changes in levels of subcooling , overheating and pressures , the Leco will indicate a leak and transmit an alarm via GSM to the operator .
HFO blends for low GWP Chemours , a new brand name in the supply of synthetic refrigerants with a long tradition dating back 85 years , used Chillventa as a launching pad for its new Opteon XP40 range of low GWP refrigerants . Mark Hughes , long associated with Du Pont Refrigerants and a regular visitor to South Africa , welcomed visitors to the Chemours stand . For many years , synthetic refrigerants have been referred to as freons when in fact freon was the registered trademark for Du Pont when HCFCs ( R12 , R22 , R502 ) were introduced and revolutionised the industry in the 1940s to replace unfriendly refrigerants such as sulphur dioxide and others .
Eight and a half decades and two giant steps towards low GWP refrigeration later , Hughes was upbeat about the change from HFCs ( R404A and R507A ) to Opteon XP40 .
In the UK , Waitrose , a supermarket group with 346 stores , has successfully retrofitted a R404A charged installation with Opteon XP40 ( R449A ). The conversion of the system with two HT packs and one LT pack , originally installed in 2004 , required no component change , nor oil change . Most of the time spent on the conversion was to recover all the R404A . With R449A , the multiple Copeland scroll compressors have performed well and the energy use of the overall system reduced by 6.6 % when compared with the performance of the R404A under similar ambient conditions .
The XP40 , an HFO blend , has a GWP of only 1 397 and compared with the 3 922 of R404A , will drastically reduce the carbon footprint of existing plants . Europe ’ s F-Gas regulations require refrigerants to have a GWP below 2 500 and a charge with a carbon footprint below 40TCo 2
e . XP40 offers a simple option to retrofit R404A plant for F-Gas compliance and with similar operating pressures .
RefriApp demonstrated a unique recovery system .
Wigam showcased an extensive range for use with R32 .
All ears – delegates at the eurammon conference .
Handling of R32 Daikin , the only manufacturer of both airconditioning systems and refrigerants , has taken the lead in offering splits and wall units charged with R32 , with a GWP of only 675 — a vast reduction on the 2 088 GWP of commonly used R410A . Because of its mild flammability and low flame speed , R32 has a safety classification of A2L , which is similar to other HFOs . Although systems with R32 ( according to EN378-1:2008 ) can have charges higher than HCs , like R290 ( propane ), the same caution needs to be taken when using R32 ; for example , the workplace needs to be well ventilated and there should be no source of ignition within three metres of the system or associated service equipment .
Karsten Beerman , director of IKKE , Duisburg . A completed project at the skills competition .
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