Technical and economical consequences of the use of R-744 gas coolers with less than their claimed nominal performance

The industry of refrigeration is nowadays facing a long period of transition pushed by international legislation, in particular EU regulation 517/2014, to achieve a lower environmental impact of cooling systems. The so-called F-gas regulation is thus defining for manufacturers and plant owners tough restrictions in terms of refrigerant global warming potential (GWP), i.e. the impact of any greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, determined as multiple of the impact of the same mass of carbon dioxide.

The main consequence of this regulation is the progressive phase-down of the traditional HFC refrigerants, that are being replaced by complex synthetic mixtures (in many cases flammable), or, most frequently, by natural fluids such as R-717, hydrocarbons or R-744. In particular R-744 has become in the last years almost a new standard for supermarket and logistic center refrigeration plants, at least in European Union, showing however an interesting growth also in USA and other extra-EU markets.

Hence the need to provide to the market the same quality previously already available for components designed for traditional working fluids. With these premises, starting from 2019, Eurovent Certita Certification (ECC), leader in third-party product performance certification in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration fields, extended its program Heat Exchangers giving to the partner manufacturers the possibility to certify the performance of their R-744 Unit Coolers, previously reserved only for traditional HFCs.

Two years later, the program was further extended to also include R-744 gas coolers, flanking traditional HFCs condensers. The joining of the program is based on a voluntary approach and the certification schemes are open to all manufacturers and distributors. The cornerstones of ECC certification (HE program) will be explained, underlining the benefits for the market, with a particular focus on R-744 gas coolers and the impact of an overrated capacity on the overall plant efficiency.