Trane Commercial Systems and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have coaxed 20 percent greater performance out of a baseline commercial rooftop air conditioning unit with the potential for even better efficiency by switching refrigerants.
Through a cooperative research and development agreement, ORNL and Trane conducted an exhaustive technologies survey to select energy-efficient and cost-effective components, said Bo Shen, who led the project for ORNL.
Predicted annual energy savings for cooling of small office buildings at 16 U.S. locations ranged from 44 to 48 percent compared to a baseline system. Trane and ORNL are now investigating using DR-55 as a promising low global warming potential refrigerant, replacing R-410A.