So, we went over the common refrigeration cycle in Thermo. today and after class I talked with my professor (who actually works in this field, he's just filling in this semester) about refrigerants.
First of all, if you don't know, The number of the refrigerant tells about the molecular structure. If you take the number (R-134) and add 90 to it, you'll end up with 224. This means there is 2 Carbon atoms, 2 Hydrogen atoms, and 4 Fluoride atoms. The "a" on R-134a means the layout is asymmetric.
If you know some chemistry, you can draw it out yourself.
If for instance you have R-12: 12+90 = 102, which gives 1 Carbon atom and 2 Fluoride atoms. You'll notice that there should be 4 atoms bonded to the Carbon; the remaining 2 are Chlorine (and Chlorine is what eats the ozone).
Anyway, on to my point.
I've heard rumors floating around talking about the stopping of R-134a and the connection with the ending of a patent. I asked him about this and he said that the reason there is talk of ending it (and why Europe has already switched away) is due to the fact that it is a contributor to green house gasses and nothing to do with patents (it's been up for many years apparently).
Europe is using a hydro-carbon refrigerant in their automotive field as of right now. I believe he said propane (maybe kerosene -- don't remember). We of course cant use this due to the flammability factor (same reason R-152a isn't used) and our sue happy nation when something would inevitably happen.
So, in his opinion, R-134a is here to stick for quite some time in this country.
*The above is not my knowledge -- I make no attempt to pass it off as my own* hehe.
First of all, if you don't know, The number of the refrigerant tells about the molecular structure. If you take the number (R-134) and add 90 to it, you'll end up with 224. This means there is 2 Carbon atoms, 2 Hydrogen atoms, and 4 Fluoride atoms. The "a" on R-134a means the layout is asymmetric.
If you know some chemistry, you can draw it out yourself.
If for instance you have R-12: 12+90 = 102, which gives 1 Carbon atom and 2 Fluoride atoms. You'll notice that there should be 4 atoms bonded to the Carbon; the remaining 2 are Chlorine (and Chlorine is what eats the ozone).
Anyway, on to my point.
I've heard rumors floating around talking about the stopping of R-134a and the connection with the ending of a patent. I asked him about this and he said that the reason there is talk of ending it (and why Europe has already switched away) is due to the fact that it is a contributor to green house gasses and nothing to do with patents (it's been up for many years apparently).
Europe is using a hydro-carbon refrigerant in their automotive field as of right now. I believe he said propane (maybe kerosene -- don't remember). We of course cant use this due to the flammability factor (same reason R-152a isn't used) and our sue happy nation when something would inevitably happen.
So, in his opinion, R-134a is here to stick for quite some time in this country.
*The above is not my knowledge -- I make no attempt to pass it off as my own* hehe.
R.I.P 07/01/09 - 04/23/10 :(
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