Claims the low GWP refrigerant with GEA products also suitable for deep-freezing

GEA Refrigeration Technologies has approved its semi-hermetic GEA Bock HG and HA compressors for the operation with the refrigerant R407F. Announcing this, the company said that the refrigerant was especially suitable for commercial refrigeration, because it had a higher efficiency than R404A and a 50% lower GWP (Global Warming Potential) and could be used as a drop-in solution when it comes to retrofitting R22 systems.

According to GEA, laboratory tests showed that the use of R407F resulted in a significant increase of the energy efficiency of a system, compared to R404A. Even though tests with R407F in deep freezing showed a lower refrigerating capacity than R404A of around 15%, the power input of the systems also decreased at the same time by about 22%. Only based on the compressor, this resulted in an increase at the relevant operating points of the COP (Coefficient of Performance) of five to 10% in deep freezing as well as seven to 12% in normal cooling, GEA explained.

The company claimed that the new hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) R407F can be compared to R22 in many respects, but requires less system adaptations at retrofittings than other R22 alternatives and has a comparable higher energy efficiency at a significantly lower GWP (compared to other HFCs), as tests by GEA Refrigeration Technologies have reportedly showed.

A disadvantage of R407F – and therefore a parallel to R22 – is the high discharge end temperatures that complicate the use of classic suction gas-cooled semi-hermetic compressors in deep freezing, and usually require the use of a cooling fan as well as liquid injection, the company pointed out. It added that an easier and, therefore, cheaper and more efficient solution was air-cooled GEA Bock HA compressors. Due to their design with an integrated external air cooling, they could easily be operated with R407F in deep freezing without any additional investment for cooling fans or complicated liquid injection, it claimed.

Until R407F was integrated into the GEA Bock compressor selection software VAP, the GEA Bock Application Engineering (bock@gea.com) would be available for queries, GEA revealed.