ASHRAE, the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) are collaborating to fund vital research that will establish a more robust fact base about the properties and use of flammable refrigerants.
The $US5.2 million research program is part of an ongoing global effort to phase down the use of high-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and identify appropriate climate-friendly alternatives.
Of the total, DOE is contributing $3 million, ASHRAE $1.2 million, and AHRI $1 million.
Many GWP alternatives are flammable which is why technical knowledge is needed to accelerate the safe use of these refrigerants.
The results of this research will immediately be transmitted to the committees responsible for ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 15-2013, Safety Standard for Refrigeration Systems, and ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 34-2013, Designation and Safety Classification of Refrigerants, with a goal of using the results to update the standards as soon as possible, subject to full compliance with the ANSI consensus process.
The International Code Council (ICC) has stated that these revised ASHRAE standards will be eligible to be fast-tracked into the international codes.
ASHRAE president, David Underwood, said the first refrigerant standard was written in 1919.