DANFOSS has announced the availability to oems of prototype versions of its revolutionary oil-less Turbocor compressor to run on the new refrigerant HFO1234ze.
The prototype, named TG310, is said to be suitable for outdoor, air-cooled chiller applications and is being offered to chiller manufacturers for shipment in April.

'For our customers who have an interest in developing chiller designs using this highly energy efficient and environmentally progressive refrigerant, we have completed qualification testing for the TG310 and are ready to schedule shipment of prototypes,' said Doug Bishop, Danfoss Turbocor vice president of sales and marketing.

'While industry and regulatory work is progressing to clear a path for the adoption of HFO refrigerants, Danfoss Turbocor is now ready to support our oem customers' efforts to develop ultra-low GWP refrigerant chiller solutions. The decision to fully commercialise the TG310 as a standard production model will be made at a later date in concert with our oem customers.'

The announcement at last week's AHR show in Chicago comes exactly one year after British companies Klima-Therm and Cool-Therm first announced that they were making available a chiller using a Turbocor compressor running on HFO1234ze. The companies, which had deveoped the chiller in association with Italian manufacturer Geoclima, quickly retracted its announcement after Danfoss Turbocor insisted that its compressor had not been verified for use with HFOs. A spokesman for Klima-Therm and Cool-Therm at the time said that following discussions with Geoclima and Danfoss Turbocor they accepted that further development work and testing was required before these products could be introduced to the market.

Klima-Therm later developed a chiller running on 1234ze using Frascold semi-hermetic compressors. The chiller went on trial at a Waitrose supermarket in Bromley, Kent, late last year.