ACtion Magazine - September/October 2016 - 28

C O2 refrigerant for auto air conditioning, assumed to be a non-starter a few years ago, seems to be live technology once more. The SAE Interior Climate Control Committee (ICCC) has reopened a suite of five standards for auto A/C that would use R-744 - CO2 as a refrigerant. The decision was made at the ICCC meeting during the 2016 SAE World Congress, after a presentation by Moritz Knotzele, HVAC project engineer at Porsche Engineering Services GmbH. Knotzele leads the service procedures working group for the system, under development by a German consortium. He noted considerable progress in the engineering of recovery/recharge equipment for R-744 systems, described work in leak detection and said that English translations of German DIN standards would be available shortly for the ICCC. How things change in the A/C technology world! It was only six years ago that a German R-744 project was put 28 ACTION * September/October 2016 on what seemed like permanent hold, despite its ultra-low global warming number (1.0), which easily surpassed environmental limits in Europe and the U.S. (150 or below). The German manufacturers that had spent so much time, money and effort on development, grudgingly have been installing R-1234yf (global warming number 4-10) to satisfy European Commission regulations. However, there was distaste for using a refrigerant that was covered by a series Early prototype recovery/ of Honeywell patents whose validity they questioned, but recharge equipment with enough technical cov- for R-744 systems was basis for active testing in erage to hold off production competition to date. With R- Germany. Automotive Engineering By Paul Weissler Reprinted with permission from Automotive Engineering magazine / SAE International First published 24 April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - September/October 2016

ACtion Magazine - September/October 2016
Contents
Outlook — Andrew Fiffick
Service Port — Steve Schaeber
Leonard’s Law — Keith Leonard, Esq.
Cooling Corner
Virtual View — Angie Kilbourne
What you should know about A/C hose compatibility with R-1234yf
By The Numbers
Member Profile
CO2 air conditioning development comes alive in Germany
Industry News
Association News
New Products and Services
Last Watch — Elvis Hoffpauir

ACtion Magazine - September/October 2016