- Author
-
Dieckmann, J. T.
|
Bentley, J.
|
Varone, A.
- Title
- Non-Inert Refrigerant Study for Automotive Applications. Final Report. March-December 1990.
- Coporate
- Little, (Arthur D.) Inc., Cambridge, MA
- Sponsor
- Department of Energy, Washington, DC
- Report
-
DOE/CE/50274-T1
November 1991
75 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- DTRS-57-89-D00007
- Keywords
-
refrigerants
|
automobiles
|
air conditioning
|
ozone
- Identifiers
- CFC alternatives
- Abstract
- Alternatives to CFC-12 for automobile air conditioning were examined. The list of candidate fluids included flammable as well as non-flammable substances. HFC-134a was taken as the baseline alternative given current industry plans to convert automobile air conditioning systems to this fluid over the next several years. three flammable (non-inert) alternative refrigersnts - HFC-152a, HC-290 (propane) and HC-270 (cyclopropane) were identified. Air conditioning cycle efficiency, ozone depletion potential, and global warming impacts of these three fluids and HFC-134a were compared, with the three non-inert fluids all having higher COP and lower global warming impact. The ozone depletion potential of each of these fluids is zero. The fire safety implications of the flammable alternatives being used in otherwise conventional automobile air conditioning systems were examined in preliminary fashion. the results which are subject to more extensive verification indicate that the additional passenger compartment fire risk would be very small, while the incidence of engine compartment fires would increase modestly. The engine compartment fire hazard could be minimized by modest design changes to reduce the occurrence of ignition sources and condenser punctures in front end collisions.