Refrigerant Flammability: A New Application of the Opposed-Flow Burner.
Refrigerant Flammability: A New Application of the
Opposed-Flow Burner.
(355 K)
Womeldorf, C. A.; Grosshandler, W. L.; King, M. D.
Combustion Institute/Eastern States Section. Chemical
and Physical Processes in Combustion. Proceedings.
Fall Technical Meeting. December 9-11, 1996, Hilton
Head, SC, Westmoreland, P. R.; Smooke, M. D.,
Editor(s)(s), 257-260 pp, 1996.
Keywords:
refrigerants; combustion; counter flow burner;
difluoromethane; flammability limits; flammability
tests; reaction kinetics
Abstract:
Due to concerns about the impact of cholorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) on stratospheric ozone, new refrigerants are
being evaluated by the air-conditioning and refrigerant
industry to identify environmentally friendly
replacements. These alternative refrigerants are
primarily hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and
hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); some of which, because
of the additional hydrogen atoms, are flammable. In
order to maintain the current building code requirement
of non-flammable refrigerants, optimized mixtures which
maximize efficiency while minimizing risk are desired.
Current methods of measuring flammability of weakly
flammable refrigerants have a large uncertainty and
produce results which require operator interpretation.
This work presents an alternative approach with reduced
uncertainty and less subjectivity.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899