R410A option may contain HFCs and HC
1st April 2014
JAPAN: The Cooling Post has uncovered the potential blend constituents of the new low GWP replacement for R410A recently announced by Japanese refrigerant manufacturer Asahi Glass.
Asahi Glass announced the development of its new Amolea brand last month, revealing only that it was a blend based on the relatively unknown hydrofluoro-olefin, HFO1123, as its main component (see HFO1123 – a new alternative to R410A?).
Promoted as a competitor to R32, the low GWP single component refrigerant being pursued by most Japanese air conditioning manufacturers, Asahi Glass announced that commercial production of its new Amolea blend would commence in 2016.
Little is known of HFO1123 but it is thought to have a high refrigerating capacity compared to 1234yf and ze.
Requests to Asahi Glass for further information have so far gone unanswered but based on patents lodged by the company the new refrigerant blend might also contain a small amount of hydrocarbon in addition to one or more HFCs. The addition of an HFC would improve the refrigerant’s COP. Likely candidates are R32, R134a, R152a or R125.
The addition of an HCFO or CFO to suppress flammability of the blend is also suggested.
