It was among the many refrigeration innovations presented at the show.

According to DuPont’s Garth Dennison, “This a total primary heat transfer surface. We took an 8,000-Btu room air conditioner. The evaporator and condenser were removed. The typical copper tube and aluminum fin transfer surfaces were removed and replaced with all-nylon heat transfer surfaces.” (Actually, the nylon is a proprietary technology from DuPont.)

Low corrosion and flexibility in design were listed as advantages. It can run on R-22 and R-410A. “We are working with some coil manufacturers to get into a joint development agreement,” said Denison.

Heatcraft (Stone Mountain, GA) showed a redesigned line of 3- to 15-hp condensing units for use with Scroll or Discus compressors. They are said to provide up to 40% more free air than before. Service valves extend outside the cabinet to assist in service and installation.

The company also introduced the PRO3 refrigeration system for walk-in coolers and freezers. The system is designed to mount flush on a standard 4-in. ceiling panel to allow more storage space in the cooler. A condensate evaporation pan does away with condensate drain lines.

The company showed a prototype of a unit cooler with a plastic exterior. The idea was to significantly reduce the number of fasteners and use snap-in parts. A possible drawback, according to booth officials, could come when a technician is using torches for service work. Skill in that area would be needed to avoid melting the plastic.

Company officials wanted to gauge the concept’s viability. Said Heatcraft’s Jeff Almond, “We are challenging traditional concepts by using plastic.”

Air-cooled condensers from Keeprite (Brantford, ON, Canada) were said to range from 7 to 206 nominal tons THR. Copper tubes on larger models are mechanically expanded on to aluminum fins. A special coil design was said to eliminate tube failure on tube sheets.

Part of the showing at the booth of Bitzer Delta Heat (Flowery Branch, GA) included semi-hermetic air-cooled condensing units that also used the Octagon compressor technology. Units were available up to 7 1/2 hp, with pressure and start controls mounted and wired at the factory.

“Slim” condensing units were shown by Embraco (Duluth, GA).

New Components

In other system-related developments, Sporlan Valve (Wash-ington, MO) announced that it had reformulated the molded core of its Catch-All filter-drier. The move “simplifies Catch-All selection to ensure the most advanced filter-drier is used in CFC, HCFC, and HFC systems,” according to the company. The company said sealed models C-030 through C-600 utilize “an improved molded porous core.”

Parker (Cleveland, OH) showed the Z-48 replaceable core for steel driers with 100% molecular sieves said to hold up to three times the moisture of blended-core driers.

Solid-core filter-driers were shown by Virginia KMP (Dallas, TX) as part of its World Series line. The technology is able to “adsorb a high volume of moisture from a system, as well as being able to remove both organic and inorganic acids and oil breakdown products.”

Lonely Ice Machine

Geneglace of France, a longtime exhibitor at Europe’s IKK refrigeration show, made an appearance thanks to the recent affiliation with York. Geneglace makes flaked ice in large quantities.

A conventional technology uses a horizontal rotating evaporator and a stationary blade. Geneglace uses a stationary vertical evaporator and a rotating blade.

Publication date: 03/05/2001