Honeywell announced that its new stationary air conditioning refrigerant, Solstice N41 has received the official designation “A1” for R-466A by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
Solstice N41 is the first A1, nonflammable, reduced global warming potential (GWP), R-410A replacement refrigerant developed for stationary air conditioning systems, and will be commercially available in 2020. In developing this solution, Honeywell scientists devoted years of research and development to solve a key problem facing the HVAC industry.
“We developed Solstice N41 to address the many regulatory and safety challenges facing the industry,” said George Koutsaftes, president, Honeywell Advanced Materials. “This product is the first nonflammable refrigerant developed as an R-410A alternative, and is also better for the environment, energy efficient, and cost-effective for the end user with minimal conversion required. Safety is paramount and the properties of Solstice N41 make it a groundbreaking technology for the industry.”
Numerous regulations including Europe’s F-Gas regulation and others progressing in developed countries require the phase down of high global-warming products, prompting the HVAC industry to seek new alternatives. The current industry standard refrigerant, R-410A, which was developed and brought to market by Honeywell, must be replaced with an energy-efficient, lower-GWP solution with similar or better performance. With a GWP that is 65 percent lower than R-410A, Solstice N41 is the first replacement refrigerant that delivers all three attributes. All other R-410A replacements alternatives proposed to date are flammable and require cumbersome changes to equipment safety standards and building codes.
Early testing indicates that Solstice N41 requires minimal changes to equipment and no additional training for installation and repair technicians, allowing original equipment manufacturers to easily convert from R-410A. In addition, there is no additional safety or liability risk to homeowners and the whole supply chain. Solstice N41 is being extensively tested by over 15 OEMs and leading compressor manufacturers, having accumulated more than 30,000 hours of testing in different applications such as commercial AC (VRF, rooftops) and residential AC (unitary).
