2017 RETA Breeze Nov-Dec

or decomposed into some pretty nasty stuff was forgotten. When that happens, they are no longer all that safe. I don’t know about you, but I have some concern about breathing something that will eat up a stainless- steel furnace heat exchanger. Anyway, as we became smarter about what these refrigerants were doing to our environment, we have started to go back to the NATURAL refrigerants. The U.S.A., per usual, is lagging behind Europe in this evolution. That is not all bad. For a change someone else is developing the technology and working out a lot of the kinks before it gets to us. We take it and make it better. There are a few industrial size CO2 facilities in the U.S.A., I guess you could say it is a re-emerging technology. In a lot of ways, it is exciting and interesting. It is a continuing learning experience. I made the comment recently about the development of the RETA CO2 book, that as soon as I write one page, something new comes into view and I have to write another page. It will be sometime before CO2 refrigeration technology matures. What is now new in the commercial market today will find its way into industrial applications. Almost all refrigeration books talk about cascade systems. The cascade system is sort of the basic system used in CO2 applications. However, these types of systems are expanding. The cascade system is still used, but now there are sub-critical, volatile brine, transcritical, transcritical booster, transcritical parallel compression, transcritical ejector enhanced, hybrid systems, cascade with ammonia, cascade with HFC refrigerants, air cooled condensers and gas coolers, adiabatic condensers and gas coolers.

I made the comment recently about the

A lot of the mentioned systems are used in commercial applications right now, but I can see that as development continues, they will find their way into industrial applications. Likewise, as the technology progresses, the application line for transcritical systems will march southward. The refrigeration industry in the U.S.A., both commercial and industrial, are behind the curve on this re-emerging and developing technology. We are going to have to work a little over time to catch up, both from the study material and training prospective. But you know those who are prepared will benefit in the future. development of the RETA CO2 book, that as soon as I write one page, something new comes into view and I have to write another page. It will be sometime before CO2 refrigeration technology matures.

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