International. For the European market, Panasonic announced a complete switch to the R32, consolidating all of its residential and commercial air conditioning ranges, including its newly designed RAC floor consoles, split, multi-split and cassettes, to be compatible with this eco-friendly refrigerant technology.
According to the EU Greenhouse Gas Regulation 2014 (517/2014), Europe must reduce the global warming yield year after year. This regulation defines how each industry must contribute to achieving the total European target.
In the air conditioning industry, this affects split air conditioning systems that contain less than 3 kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases, which contain, or depend on their operation, fluorinated greenhouse gases. The refrigerant with this system should be less than 750 GWP by 2025.
Panasonic said it is now ready to supply any type of residential split or multi-split system with up to five ports, plus commercial divisions of up to 14kW.
For many years, R32 has been used as a component of refrigerant mixtures R407C and R410A. On its own, however, R32 offers a number of significant advantages over mixed refrigerants.
First, R32 has a much smaller impact on global warming compared to its combined predecessors: its global warming potential (GWP) is significantly lower than that of R410A.
R32 is also a more efficient alternative to R410A, with realistic efficiency gains of up to 10 percent, enabling significant energy savings for construction service managers.
As R32 is already a familiar component of R410A, the switch does not present any new challenges for installers. Procedures that include piping and testing remain the same. Slightly different tools, such as recovery systems and leak detectors, may be needed, but again this should not pose a significant challenge. As with all refrigerants, R32 must be handled safely at all times and spaces must be properly ventilated when charging and recovering from air conditioning units.
Alfredos Armaos, Manager of UK Heating & Cooling at Panasonic in the UK, said: "Consolidating our portfolio to be compatible with R32 is an important step in reducing the impact of air conditioning on our environment. For suppliers, it allows them to offer a more sustainable solution, and for installers it offers the opportunity to offer customers a more efficient and cost-effective option."
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