Containing CFC refrigerants; The conversion to new refrigerants

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Energy Engineering; (United States)

OSTI ID:7116529

Siebert, B ^[1]

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1. Trane Co., La Crosse, WI (United States)

This paper reports that the key equipment for air conditioning large commercial buildings is the centrifugal chiller. More than 80,000 of these chillers are in operation today in the U.S. and Canada. Some reputable scientists have concluded, however, that the refrigerant used in most of these chillers, a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) designated CFC-11, contributes to the degradation of the earth's protective ozone layer when it is emitted, rises into the upper atmosphere, and decomposes. The evidence has spurred state, national and even international action to restrict CFCs. At conferences of the United Nations Environmental Programs, agreement was reached on a worldwide ban of CFC production by the year 2000, with severe limitations on their production before then. These include CFC-11 and CFC-12, both used in some unitary air conditioning systems. What happens now Trane, manufacturer of more than half of the centrifugal chillers operating in the United States and Canada, recommends a choice of programs that are the subject of this article. They permit either safe, continued use of present chillers and refrigerant, or an easy conversion to an ozone-friendly refrigerant in the same chillers and, later, a switch to new chiller equipment totally compatible with the new refrigerant. In the immediate future, it means preventing CFC emission releases into the atmosphere and, eventually, a carefully-prepared switchover to a new refrigerant by properly-engineered equipment modifications.

• OSTI ID: 7116529
• Journal Information: Energy Engineering; (United States), Vol. 88:1; ISSN 0199-8595
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR CONDITIONERS
REFRIGERANTS
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
AIR CONDITIONING
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS
BUILDINGS
FLUIDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
WORKING FLUIDS
320106* - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Building Equipment- (1987-)
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)