Automotive Air Conditioning System Performance with HFC-134a Refrigerant

Current production automotive airconditioning systems have demonstrated the lower thermodynamic efficiency of HFC-134a versus traditional CFC-12 refrigerant. A loss in cooling performance was realized at low speeds and idle with the serpentine condenser and HFC-134a. However, with the proper system modifications and materials selection, HFC-134a has been successfully tested in one particular mobile air conditioning application. Better A/C system performance was achieved with HFC-134a when the OE serpentine condenser was replaced by a 30% greater heat transfer capacity condenser. This more efficient design is called the multiflow condenser. It also offers 50% less weight and 20% less refrigerant when compared to the present serpentine configuration on the application tested.