REFRIGERANTS
freely available at a low cost. However, statistics from the European Environment Agency show that attitudes are changing. In 2016, the volume of reclaimed HFCs doubled compared with the year before. There is still significant scope to improve on this, as this represents just 5% of the total produced.
The industry as a whole needs to place more emphasis on maximising reuse and making it easier for engineers to recover the gases. The best way to achieve this is to foster closer collaboration between members of the supply chain, with the ultimate aim of all refrigerant being recovered and recycled rather than disposed of.
Looking ahead, improving the infrastructure now will also benefit future consumption, as single component gases such as R32 are simpler to reuse and as such will provide a low cost solution.
For existing systems, another area for consideration is leak reduction. Lowering the amount of refrigerant that needs to be used to top up systems will help reduce demand, and ultimately the cost to the customer. Leaks can be identified by careful monitoring, either on-site or remotely to assess the tightness of the system.
This will also highlight the frequency and volume of any top ups that are required and where usage is particularly high, further investigation can be carried out and the leak can be addressed. As cloud-based and remote solutions become more commonplace, this will make the process easier and more reliable. For new installations, whether new builds or
the replacement of existing systems, consultants and engineers should always recommend products that make use of lower GWP options where available. However, there is also a significant benefit to the industry and end customers of choosing systems that have been designed with a lower charge requirement. For example, technologies such as micro channel heat exchangers allow greater cooling efficiency and as a result can reduce refrigerant charge by 25%. The higher efficiency of refrigerants such as R32 mean that the overall charge volume can be lowered. This reduces the overall costs of the system for the end customer as well as the pressure on quotas. However, not all of the current generation of R32 systems have been designed to take full advantage of this. Many are still utilising components originally designed to work with R410A rather than the more compact
designs possible with R32. An example of this is the Daikin Sky Air A-series, which features a reconfigured swing compressor manufactured specifically for use with R32. With these advantages there is a clear benefit
to accelerating the switch to R32. Despite the competitive nature of the industry, there are huge gains to be made by organisations working together to expedite the transition. Significantly reducing the amount of higher GWP refrigerant required before the next quota reduction in 2021 will alleviate many of the issues experienced since late 2017 at every level, from producers and wholesalers down to end customers. For example, since 2015 Daikin has made 93 patents freely available to contribute to the commercialisation and adoption of air conditioning, refrigeration and heat pumps that use R32. Despite the main focus understandably
being on the move to lower GWP alternatives, by combining this with improvements to the reuse ratio, minimisng leaks and designing and specifying more efficient systems, the pressure on the supply of refrigerants can be relieved. Training on the new systems is also available from manufacturers to help installers navigate the transition.
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