DR-55 is 5% better as drop-in
16th September 2015
USA: Chemours R410A replacement DR-55 is reported to have performed well in high ambient drop-in tests on a R410A rooftop air conditioner.
DR-55, which Chemours will market as Opteon XL55, was shown in the tests to exhibit around a 5% improvement in EER and COP at high ambient temperatures, compared to R410A. It was also seen to maintain capacity better than R410A.
A blend of R32, R125 and R1234yf, DR-55 has a GWP of 675. It has also been said to exhibit lower discharge temperatures and a lower flammability than its rival R32.
The new performance tests were conducted between May and August of this year on a 17.6kW (5 ton) rooftop packaged air conditioner at the Lennox Product Development and Research Centre in Carrollton, Texas.
The base unit was an R410A rooftop air conditioner, built in 2007, with an EER of 12.7 and employing a Copeland Scroll compressor. It was first tested, without modifications, at several high ambient conditions. The unit was then tested at the same test points with DR-55 at the same and several additional high ambient temperature conditions.
In a test at 52ºC ambient, the discharge temperature was 97ºC for R410A and 110ºC for DR-55.
The tests were carried out under AHRI’s Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants Evaluation Programme. The full test report is available here.
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