Arlington, Va. — The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Technology Institute (AHRTI), the research arm of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a $1.8 million funding award negotiation to conduct essential research on low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants. AHRTI will lead a research project to characterize heat transfer and pressure drop performance of new low-GWP refrigerants.

"This research will support the implementation of The American Innovation & Manufacturing (AIM) Act and provide U.S. manufacturers with accurate refrigerant correlations to help them design and commercialize efficient air conditioning and heat pump products using more environmentally friendly refrigerants," said AHRI President & CEO Stephen Yurek, adding that, "the research will focus on next- generation refrigerants having a GWP of less than 150 with an eye toward helping make U.S. manufacturers more competitive in the global market."

Through this research project, AHRTI will develop accurate heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for lower-GWP refrigerants covering a range of key factors, such as heat exchanger tube diameters, materials, inner surfaces, and operating conditions. The developed correlations will be implemented in publicly available models for system design and optimization. This project is one of the 29 projects selected by DOE through its Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) funding opportunity to develop advanced building technologies and retrofit practices that enable healthier households and communities and reduce energy waste.

"The combined outcome will help our industry overcome the hurdles of introducing new refrigerants and will build a foundation for our manufacturers to design and optimize more innovative and efficient products," said Yurek.