ICR2015 : Trane présente un refroidisseur utilisant le nouveau frigorigène DR55

Trane, une fililale de Ingersoll Rand, présente à ICR2015 un refroidisseur qui utilise le DR55, le nouveau frigorigène DR-55 qui est un mélange de HFO et HFC.
Trane, a brand of Ingersoll Rand, is presenting an air-cooled demonstration chiller using the new low-GWP refrigerant DR-55 at the International Institute of Refrigeration’s International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR2015). The demonstration unit is being showcased at Booth 18 at the Pacifico Yokohama until August 22, 2015.
This chiller is a Trane AquaTrine™, which is designed for high-end apartments, luxury villas, office buildings, small restaurants, retail stores and hotels. The company said it uses a high-efficiency hermetic scroll compressor and evaporator technology to provide stable, reliable and highly efficient operation.

DR-55 refrigerant, marketed by the Chemours Co. as Opteon™ XL55, is a HFO-HFC blend that is currently being evaluated by the HVAC industry for use in unitary and residential equipment. DR55 expected classification is A2L and its GWP is 676.

“We expect high-performance HVAC systems to be available with next-generation refrigerants like DR-55 within the next 12-18 months pending regulatory approval,” said Randal Newton, vice-president of enterprise engineering for Ingersoll Rand.

The University of California at Davis (UC Davis) Western Cooling Efficiency Center laboratory recently completed testing of DR-55 as a design-compatible alternative to R-410A in a Trane Precedent™ rooftop heat pump.
“DR-55 should be considered as a possible replacement for R-410A because of the relatively low global warming potential and refrigerant charge requirements,” said Curtis Harrington, associate engineer at UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.
“Lab testing has shown excellent performance over a wide range of outdoor air conditions. Although some flammability will need to be accepted to use refrigerants with lower GWP, refrigerants like DR-55 offer greater potential for safer implementation.”

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently completed demonstration testing to assess the overall performance of DR-55 as a design-compatible alternative to R-410A in commercial unitary systems or rooftop units (RTUs). RTUs provide more than half of the cooling for U.S. commercial building space.

“DR-55 is a very promising low-GWP candidate to replace R-410A in commercial unitary systems,” said Bo Shen, research and development scientist at ORNL. “There is a relatively easy conversion from R-410A to DR-55; therefore, it should be considered as a viable design-compatible replacement for R-410A with increased performance and environmental benefits. DR-55 benefits compared to R-410A include 70% reduction in direct global warming potential, 10% lower refrigerant charge requirement, and significantly better performance in both efficiency and capacity, even at high ambient temperatures.”