Aside from confirming its move toward low GWP refrigerants, Carrier in Europe has achieved a significant reduction in the refrigerant charge in its products of up to 50 percent over the last five years.
The business has been working to select the best candidate to replace the HFC R134a in screw and centrifugal chillers and HFC R410A in scroll chillers, heat pumps and rooftop units.
For screw chillers and heat pumps, Carrier chose HFO R1234ze to replace HFC R134a. With a GWP less than 1, according to the 5th Assessment Report of the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), R1234ze(E) is not impacted by restrictions from the EU F-Gas regulation or the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol on fluorinated greenhouse gases. It is part of the Carrier PUREtec family of long-term refrigerant solutions.
Carrier was the first to launch the newest generation of its AquaForce chillers with PUREtec refrigerant three years ago and it continues to grow with more than 300 units installed in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and more than 2 million cumulated hours and proven reliability that is a core value of Carrier. Products in this range are improving product efficiency by an average of 10 percent, already exceeding Ecodesign 2021 requirements and meeting the Kigali Amendment requirements for 2036.
Carrier chose HFO R1233zd(E) as the preferred long-term refrigerant for centrifugal chillers. With a GWP of 1, it is also not impacted by F-Gas regulations. The Carrier AquaEdge 19DV is a good example of a successful range using this refrigerant.
For scroll commercial chillers and heat pump ranges, currently available compressor technology is not compatible with low GWP HFO refrigerants. Some solutions operate with mid-GWP HFC refrigerants and Carrier is developing a full range of cooling and heating products that will comply with and exceed Ecodesign 2021 efficiency requirements and operate with mid-GWP HFC refrigerants.
These ranges are expected to launch soon and are optimised for energy efficiency while offering the same operating temperature flexibility as current units operating with R410A.