United States. AHRTI, the research arm of the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), published the results of a benchmarking study on the refrigerant A3 R290, which assessed the potential risks of leakage and ignition of the R290 in a full room scale configuration.
All tests were conducted by AHRTI's UL subcontractor under the supervision of a technical committee comprised of industry experts from AHRI member companies and California Air Resources Board staff.
"The goal of this project was to test the leakage and ignition of R-290 refrigerant, or propane, under full-scale conditions," said AHRI vice president of research Xudong Wang. "The test scenario simulated a package-type terminal and mini-split air conditioner in a typical motel room, and a single-door access cooler and a three-door range cooler in a convenience store," Wang said. "The test results demonstrated potential problems in the R290 load quantities set by safety standards and possible resolution to mitigate ignition risk."
The objective of the research programme is to develop data and information on the risks associated with the use of Class A3 refrigerants and to generate technical data to support revisions of the relevant safety standards, namely IEC 60335-2-40 (for air conditioning products) and IEC 60335-2-89 (for commercial refrigeration products), and its equivalent North American version published by UL.
This project is part of a $5.6 million research program jointly funded by AHRI, ASHRAE, the California Air Resources Board, and the U.S. Department of Energy, and is the U.S. industry's effort to gradually reduce the use of high-GWP refrigerants and facilitate and accelerate the safe use of flammable refrigerants.
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