- Author
-
Womeldorf, C. A.
- Title
- Refrigerant Flammability: A New Application of the Opposed-Flow Burner.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NISTIR 5904,
October 1996,
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Book or Conf
- National Institute of Standards and Technology. Annual Conference on Fire Research: Book of Abstracts. October 28-31, 1996,
Gaithersburg, MD,
145-146 p.,
1996
- Keywords
-
fire research
|
fire science
|
refrigerants
|
flammability
|
burners
- Abstract
- Due to concerns about the impact of cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the earth's ozone, new refrigerants are being evaluated by the air-conditioning and refrigerant industry to identify environmentally friendly replacements. These alternative refrigerants are primarily hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); some of which, because of the additional hydrogen atoms, are flammable. In order to maintain the current requirement of non-flammable refrigerants, optimized mixtures which maximize efficiency while minimizing risk are desired. Current methods of measuring of flammability for weakly flammable refrigerants have a large uncertainty and produce results which require operator interpretation. This work presents an alternative approach with reduced uncertainty and less operator interpretation.