Risk assessment of catastrophic leak of R452B from packaged unit into a residential space

Ahmed Elatar, Ahmad Abu-Heiba, Viral Patel, K. Dean Edwards, Van Baxter, Omar Abdelaziz, Mingkan Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

With the effort to find alternative refrigerants with lower global warming potential (GWP), challenges have arisen due to the flammability risk for many of the alternatives. One of the new alternatives is R452B, which is recommended as a replacement for R410A. R452B is classified as a mildly flammable refrigerant (A2L) by ASHRAE 34. This paper summarizes a CFD simulation study of a leak incident of R452B from a 3-ton packaged unit which serves a 167 m2 residence. The R452B leak is assumed to be downstream of the evaporator coil. The simulated residence has four rooms and a hall way. The packaged unit distributes the conditioned air through a supply duct system delivering the air through registers. The dispersion of R452B is characterized for two scenarios: one with underfloor supply air ducts and another with ceiling supply air ducts. The mass flow rate of R452B exiting the duct outlets is quantified and the refrigerant volume fraction is monitored inside the residential space.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)32-39
Number of pages8
JournalRefrigeration Science and Technology
VolumePart F147651
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Event1st IIR International Conference on the Application of HFO Refrigerants, HFO 2018 - Birmingham, United Kingdom
Duration: Sep 2 2018Sep 5 2018

Funding

This work was sponsored by the US Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors would also like to acknowledge Mr. Antonio Bouza, Technology Manager-HVAC&R, Water Heating, and Appliances, US Department of Energy Building Technologies Office. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This work was sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors would also like to acknowledge Mr. Antonio Bouza, Technology Manager—HVAC&R, Water Heating, and Appliances, US Department of Energy Building Technologies Office.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Energy
Battelle
Building Technologies Office
Bioenergy Technologies OfficeDE-AC05-00OR22725

    Keywords

    • Ceiling Duct
    • Floor Duct
    • Package Unit
    • R452B Leak
    • Residential Space

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