B-COOL Project - Ford Ka and Fiat Panda R-744 MAC Systems

The B-COOL project, funded by the European Union, is devoted to the development of low cost and efficient R-744 system for small cars.

In the framework of this initiative a Fiat Panda and a Ford Ka prototype have been realized adopting two different R-744 systems and a testing procedure has been identified and adopted to qualify the vehicles in terms of fuel consumption and thermal comfort performance.

The Project started in March 2005 and ended in November 2008, this paper presents the major project outcomes on R-744 mobile air conditioning systems (efficiency and related fuel consumption and LCCP, costs, architecture) synthesizing the remaining technology open issues