New Technology in Refrigerant

This video attempts to explain how an air conditioner works using a visual. So, a basic air conditioner uses a “cooling agent” to circulate through the house as “gas” and carry the warm ‘air’ to the outside where it is cooled down and then released back into the house. This cooling agent is usually referred to as the air conditioner’s refrigerant. There are two main types of refrigerant used in air conditioning units currently. Depending on your unit, as well as the refrigerant that your unit is using, the cooling efficiency might be different. What is the difference between refrigerants anyways? There are two main types of refrigerant (the cooling agent in air conditioners) being used on the market today. One of them is R-22. According to http://www.answers.com/topic/refrigerant?cat=technology, Answers.com – R-22 is used mostly in small commercial and residential air conditioning units (with some freezers and refrigerators included). This is an ozone depleting agent, but is going to be sold until 2010. At which time, the alternate to R-22, Puron (also called R-134a) will be used. According to answers.com (utilized for its ease in explaining a complex process),

“R-134a and certain blends are now replacing chlorinated compounds [like R-22]. One popular 50/50 blend of R-32 and R-125 now being increasingly substituted for R-22 is R410a, often marketed under the trade name Puron®.”

While Puron® is much safer for the environment; it needs to operate at a much higher pressure. Therefore, when R-22 stops being produced, homeowners with R-22 capable units would need to upgrade their units to ones operating on Puron®. However, this may not be the final verdict. A new type of refrigerant was sponsored by a grant through the Department of Energy and the Environmental Technology and Engineering Center. This new refrigerant called Ikon® B would solve the environmental concerns of ozone depletion, while still operating at an efficient energy and at pressures concurrent with R-22. This would save homeowners the headache of replacing fairly new air conditioning units because of a lack of refrigerant to run them. This study compared Ikon ® B with R-22 using an air conditioner to cool a 90 degree test and a 100 degree (F) ambient temperature test. Then the cooling capacity and energy efficiency was compared between the two refrigerants. This is what they found…

What are the stats on Ikon® B? At 90 degrees, the Ikon ® B refrigerant had

“15% higher quantity of cooling obtained per amount of energy used, and at 100°F about 22% higher quantity of cooling obtained per amount of energy used, versus R-22.”

Even though the Ikon B had more cooling quality, the unit did need to be run for longer. According to the research,

“In residential and small commercial air conditioning, this simply means that the air conditioner will run about 20% longer with Ikon ® B to provide the same amount of cooling it would have with R-22. The energy savings of Ikon ® B will be obtained even though the air conditioner runs longer, because COP is amount of cooling obtained per amount of energy used, independent of the run time.”

The tests did show that Ikon B will work with units that have previously run R-22 refrigerants and also provide even more energy savings. According to the tests (simulating an outside temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit and also 100 degrees), the Ikon B actually did better when outside temperatures were higher. The two main sources for today’s blog come from PDF’s from these links. These explain the project, research methods and findings of the team studying Ikon B in 2003 for the Department of Energy. http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/875416-mcgEfB/875416.PDF http://www1.eere.energy.gov/inventions/pdfs/12067_nimitz_incdbaetec.pdf New Technology continues to make life easier, and air conditioning innovations have come a long way as well. Soon units will be even more efficient and environmentally friendly while being more effective at providing escape from the summer heat! Please keep checking back for updates!