Measurement of Refrigerant Emissions from Mobile A/C Systems

The emission of man-made gases into the atmosphere has been associated with potential future adverse affects on the global climate.

The automotive industry incorporates Mobile Air Conditioners and is compelled to reduce the overall emission of the frequently used coolant R134a or to introduce alternatives such as Tetrafluoropropene HFO-1234yf or CO₂.

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The Emissions Monitoring Need

The regulating authorities are progressively introducing stricter standards with lower allowable leak rates. Manufacturers of Mobile A/C have therefore been looking for new measurement methods and techniques that meet both the challenges of measuring the new generation of refrigerant gases and of the high sensitivity and accuracy required for very low leak rate quantification.

The PAS technique provides an accurate and rapid result with a high rate of repeatability, even at very low emission rates, such as those that occur at low to moderate temperatures.

LumaSense’s Solution

The Photoacoustic Gas Monitors INNOVA 1412i / 1314i are well suited for these types of laboratory measurements. The monitor is easily operated and can measure R134a and HFO-1234yf in less than 20 seconds including compensation for water vapor.

With a highly flexible design based on a multi-optical filter wheel and multi-calibration banks in memory, the same monitor can be advantageously used as analytical instrument for various setups performing testing on different types of refrigerant gases.

The detection limit for the Photoacoustic Gas Monitor Innova 1412i for the gases of interest are:

0.01 ppm for R134a
0.2 ppm for HFO-1234yf
1.5 ppm for CO₂

Your Benefits

40+ Years of Experience with PAS
Meet and comply with environmental regulations
Operational advantages: fast and reliable integral leakage monitoring

Easily configurable to other / additional gas(es) by selecting a different optical filter
Easy to use, even by non-experts
Low cost of ownership: no consumable, rare calibration need

Note: See our sister application for SF₆ integral leak testing as performed for routine tests on Gas-Insulated-Switchgears in the T&D industry.