Page 52 - Climate Control News Aug-Sep 2020

Natural Refrigerants
Slider transforms into Ref Tools
AS THE COOLING industry continues to evolve, HVACR professionals need tools, guid- ance, support, and information that keep them on the cutting edge.
That is exactly what Ref Tools is all about, it is an all-in-one mobile app for air conditioning and refrigeration technicians.
Danfoss has announced that Refrigerant Slider, the popular P/T calculation app that has over two million downloads, will transform into Ref Tools.
HVACR professionals can download Ref Tools to automatically get all the new tools and fea- tures or access it via your browser at https:// reftools.danfoss.com/
Ref Tools includes five of Danfoss’s most popu- lar and useful air conditioning and refrigeration tools to quickly calculate pressure/temperature ratios for over 80 refrigerants.
The LOW GWP tool helps users find and com- pare climate friendly refrigerants for retrofitting by checking compatibility with the cooling sys- tem’sTXV.
TROUBLESHOOTER
Troubleshooter helps users identify and compare symptoms in a refrigeration sys- tem that is acting up. Once they identify the issue, Troubleshooter also recommends so- lutions to try.
SPARE PARTS
Spare Parts lets users access and order an ex- tensive list of Danfoss spare parts and service
kits for industrial refrigeration applications, right from the job site.
MAGNETIC TOOL
Magnetic Tool helps users test and trouble- shoot solenoid valve coils quickly and easily.
Ref Tools lets users track their most visited service sites and save unique settings for each one. Users can also access Danfoss’s popular Chilling with Jens podcast directly in the app, giving them a chance to learn something new about refrigeration while on the go.
Danfoss Cooling director of concepts & con- tent, Janni Koie, said Ref Tools is an exciting next step into the future of digital tools in the cooling industry.
“By putting helpful tools in our customers’ hands, we hope to make their daily tasks in the field much easier so they can save time,” Koie said.
Report rates hydrocarbons low risk
A RISK ASSESSMENT by the EU-funded Life Front project has concluded that refrig- eration and heat pump equipment using hy- drocarbon refrigerants have a low flamma- bility risk compared to other appliances.
Tests carried out on a commercial refrigera- tion cabinet, an indoor packaged air-to-water
heat pump, and a ground source heat pump, as- sessed the effectiveness of the specific design in mitigating the risk and preventing the creation of an uncontrolled explosive atmosphere.
The report – Quantitative Risk Assessment for Flammable Refrigerants – is the culmina- tion of a project aimed at removing “barriers
posed by standards” for flammable refriger- ants and improving system design to address flammability risks.
The project has been led by Shecco in partner- ship with chilled and heat pump manufacturers AIT-Deutschland and NIBE, commercial refrig- eration manufacturer AHT, German environ- mental consultancy HEAT, and environmental group ECOS.
Tests were carried out on prototypes in- cluding a commercial refrigerating cabinet, an indoor packaged air-to-water heat pump, and an existing ground source heat pump specifically designed and modified to func- tion with R290.
The group concluded that the flammability risk presented by the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants is low compared to the fire risk associated with other comparable equipment and appliances
Daniel Colbourne, the Life Front lead techni- cal expert and project engineer at HEAT GmbH, said that the hazards identified and analysed in the tests often arise from “human errors or mis- behaviour”.
“Detailed and easy to understand instruc- tion manuals and well-trained technical per- sonnel for installation, commissioning and de- commissioning are consequently seen as effective mitigation measures to reduce identi- fied risks,” he said. ✺
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