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  STATUS OF HC BASED RETROFIT ACTIVITIES UNDER NCCoPP
 

Technicians may find it useful to look at or download the training handout which has been prepared by RAC experts and is used in the training programmes. The manuals should, of course, in no way replace the technicians participation at training programmes. Learning by doing is essential in order to fully integrate new knowledge. Technicians have a better understanding of equipment, if this is handled and used during the practical session. The equipment is promoted in order to improve your servicing practices. So come and register for training and you will receive a copy of this handout at the training programme.
The National CFC Consumption Phase-Out Plan for India (NCCoPP) has started different initiatives to promote retrofit activities in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) sector. The scope is to enhance the replacement of ozone depleting refrigeration gases by environment friendly substances. The following summaries point out preliminary results of research and pilot tests in the sectors of domestic appliances and Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC).

RETROFIT OF DOMESTIC REFRIGERATION APPLIANCES
GTZ and the NCCoPP industry partner Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. since 2006 carry out a pilot project on retrofit of domestic refrigeration appliances. There is a sound scientific basis for energy efficient retrofits of domestic refrigerators with hydrocarbon blend dating back to efforts undertaken under ECOFRIG/HIDEOR project jointly with industry and IIT Delhi. Godrej has developed a retrofit kit for commercial use, which guarantees a safe use of the appliance when switching from CFC refrigerant to Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerant which is flammable. Up to now, 50 domestic refrigerators have been retrofitted using these retrofit kits. Consumer's feedbacks show that satisfaction with the retrofitted refrigerators is high. The project targets to provide the retrofit kit for a unit price of INR 600 without compromise on safety. With moderate subsidies from the project and depending on potential revenues from selling the recovered parts, a retrofit could be financially attractive for technicians as well as for end-consumers. In the next phase of the pilot project, a voucher system for the end-consumer will be evaluated and a monitoring system will be designed and implemented. The financial aspects will also be reviewed. For training activities related to retrofit of domestic appliances a dedicated training handouts is available from NCCoPP project.

More details can be seen from the presentation by Godrej and GTZ of 21. August 2007 (Annex 1)

HC RETROFIT IN MOBILE AIR CONDITIONING SECTOR (MAC)
NCCoPPs retrofit activities in MAC started with a Maruti Zen pilot tested in 2005. Different additional tests have since 2006 been carried out by Prof. Agarwal and his team from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi (IITD) to gain further experience with Mobile Air Conditioning systems using HC blend. Initial test were investigating overall performance and general feasibility, while recent testing focussed on performance under high ambient temperature. In latest tests different models of cars with AC were equipped with data acquisition systems and field tests were carried out at different locations. The analysis of the generated data shows that even under high ambient conditions the performance of HC is very similar to R12 in the tested cars, except for one test vehicle. In May 2007 it could be verified that this performance problem related to this particular configuration of a chosen car (earlier repair work) and not to the MAC system applied in this model as such. Due to prevailing meteorological conditions it was not possible yet to establish empirical evidence for performance under very high temperatures (around 45°). Temperatures conditions above 40° will however occur only in some states and during limited time period of the year. Thermodynamic properties of the hydrocarbon blend show a reasonable performance also in this range. Key message to note for practitioners is however that due to the temperature glide toping up leads to poor performance with HC blend and hence shall be strictly avoided. Leaking systems hence must be repaired before they are retrofitted.


More details on the reported tests can be seen from Prof Agarwal’s the presentation (IIT Delhi Annex 2)

OUTLOOK
Retrofit of refrigeration and air conditioning appliances from CFC's to HC blend contributes to the preservation of the ozone layer and avoids of greenhouse gas emissions. Vehiles retrofitted with HFC134a on a drop in basis will consume more fuel to yield the same amount of cooling. It has been showed that retrofits are technically feasible and in many cases are also financially attractive. Safety issues can be taken care of to the full extent. The increasing sales of HC cans shows that retrofit activities are gaining importance in India. However, it appears that retrofits of refrigerators do often not follow recommended good practice standards and fall short of make use of retrofit kits. Drop in only is not the practice recommended by the project. However so far no report on damage to persons arising from such basic practice are known to the project. NCCoPP does strengthen its information and communication efforts to train technicians on best practice in this domain.



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