Refrigerant manufacturer Honeywell says that Chinese refrigeration and air conditioning components manufacturer Zhejiang DunAn Artificial Environment is to develop components compatible with its A1 refrigerant R466A.
Branded by Honeywell as Solstice N41, R466A was first announced in 2018 and created huge interest in the air conditioning world by promising to be the industry’s first A1, non-flammable lower GWP refrigerant replacement for R410A in stationary air conditioning systems.
Since then, Honeywell reports that R466A has undergone extensive analysis by over 15 OEMs and leading compressor manufacturers, accumulating more than 100,000 hours in different air conditioning applications.
Honeywell has previously announced partnerships with US component manufacturer Sporlan and Chinese supplier Sanhua. In 2019, air conditioning manufacturers Toshiba Carrier and Midea both reported “promising” test results with R466A and Trane is known to be carrying out extensive testing but, so far, no major OEM has introduced models using the new refrigerant.
Strategic manufacturer
DunAn Environment is a leading enterprise in the global refrigeration components industry, and a strategic partner for global air conditioning manufacturers. The company has R&D centres and manufacturing plants in the USA and Thailand, and companies or sales organisations in North America, South America, Europe, Japan, Korea, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Its products include refrigeration valves, heat exchangers, and pressure vessels for household and commercial air conditioners, heat pumps and refrigeration and freezing. In addition, DunAn provides components for thermal management of new energy vehicles and equipment manufacturing, including commercial air conditioners, special air conditioners and cold chain equipment for nuclear power, purification and rail transit.
“The non-flammability and reduced-GWP properties of Solstice N41 provide real breakthroughs for the HVAC industry,” said Shan Yukuan, deputy director of Technology Center, DunAn Environment. “DunAn is glad to partner with Honeywell to carry out evaluation and certification of key HVAC components for Solstice N41 use and promote the widespread application of this innovative technology.”
“By working with leading air conditioning and refrigeration manufacturers and component suppliers such as DunAn, we can move towards industry adoption and help customers meet overall sustainability goals,” commented Honeywell vice president and general manager, Ken West.
Gree involvement
In the past few days, it has been announced that Chinese air conditioning manufacturer Gree is to invest around US$470m to buy a nearly 40% stake in DunAn. The deal will make Gree DunAn’s controlling shareholder.