ATP FOCUSED PROGRAM:

            Advanced Vapor Compression Refrigeration Systems

                   FY 1995 NIST Funding: $10 million
            Estimated FY 1995-1999 NIST Funding: $50 million

Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit.

    The technology for making things and places cooler has come a long
    way since the 1920s when icemen still delivered heavy blocks of ice
    from central ice-making facilities to household iceboxes. Now,
    refrigerators and air conditioners are as commonplace in developed
    countries as telephones and light bulbs, and they constitute big
    business. Manufacturing of air-conditioning and refrigeration
    equipment in the United States alone each year amounts to a $22
    billion industry, which is about 40 percent of the world s
    production, and employs about 125,000 people.

    Conventional technology, however, is falling short on enough
    engineering, environmental, consumer, and technological fronts that
    refrigeration and air-conditioning engineers have entered an
    innovate-or- wither phase. According to industry projections, new
    demand for air- conditioning and refrigeration products by
    developing countries will fatten the global market by an estimated
    $150 billion over the next 10 years. With competition from Japanese
    makers, who now win 40 percent of the market, and from those in
    Europe, China, and Korea, the U.S. share of this emerging market
    will depend heavily on who innovates faster and better. The goal of
    this ATP focused program in advanced vapor compression refrigeration
    systems, therefore, is to help U.S. manufacturers build the
    technical basis for developing lower cost and better performing
    products than all foreign competitors.

    Besides bolstering industrial competitiveness for these
    manufacturers, the program promises additional broad-based benefits.
    Increasing the average energy efficiency of air-conditioning and
    refrigeration equipment could simultaneously save industry users
    billions of dollars in energy costs and significantly reduce the
    emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants as a result of
    reduced fuel consumption at power plants. Moreover, the focused
    program includes air-cleaning technologies, which include chemical
    systems that absorb or catalytically destroy many of the indoor air
    pollutants thought to be responsible for the "sick building"
    syndrome. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many
    as 50 percent of commercial buildings have problems with their
    indoor air and that improving air quality could yield annual savings
    of several billion dollars in the form of improved worker
    productivity, decreased public health costs, and reduced maintenance
    costs.

Technology Challenge.

    The key to success for U.S. corporations in future international
    competition in this sector will be the ability to develop more
    efficient, quiet, and compact air-conditioning and refrigeration
    systems with the lowest achievable environmental impact.

    The technical challenge centers on the vapor compression cycle,
    which is the principle of operation for the vast majority of cooling
    equipment now manufactured and in use both in individual residences
    and in industrial settings. During the cycle, liquid refrigerants--
    among them the soon-to- be-phased-out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), as
    well as their replacements--expand in a metal coil. This is an
    energy-absorbing process that extracts heat from the space to be
    cooled. A mechanical compressor then consolidates the expanded gas
    and pushes it into a condenser where the vapor liquefies, which is
    an energy-releasing procedure that prepares the refrigerant for
    another run of the cooling cycle while releasing the heat associated
    with the condensation process away from the cooling system. The
    overall technical goals are to increase system efficiency by 25
    percent, to reduce the noise levels and size of refrigeration
    components by the same amount, and to design and manufacture a
    system in which no refrigerant leaks.

    Better efficiency translates into lower operating costs for users
    and less environmental impact. Compactness and quiet operation are
    critical user- convenience factors in the competition for the global
    consumer base. The no-leak goal is important for several reasons.
    One is to reduce maintenance costs due to leakage, which has been a
    chronic problem for decades. Another reason leakless systems are
    necessary is that new, more environmentally friendly refrigerants
    often consist of several components that can escape from leaky
    systems with different degrees of ease, yet the system's optimal
    efficiency depends on maintaining the chemical uniformity of the
    refrigerants.

Industry Commitment.

    Following several meetings and workshops of industry members in
    1994, the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry approached
    NIST with a proposal for an ATP focused program. Industry spends
    about $63 million each year on R&D, almost all of which is devoted
    to product changes associated with the imminent phaseout of CFCs,
    efficiency improvements mandated by energy legislation, and testing
    candidate refrigerants for their long-term potential to affect the
    global climate. In December 1993, 170 companies represented by the
    Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute submitted a "white
    paper" to the ATP articulating the riskier technological challenges
    their industry faces, the commercial opportunities these advances
    could create, and their eagerness to share the costs in a program
    that would greatly leverage their own commitment.

Significance of ATP Funds.

    Most of each company's R&D resources are devoted to
    environmental and regulatory needs and the international agreement
    to phaseout CFCs. By providing a solid basis for industry
    collaboration on high-risk, cutting-edge technologies, the ATP can
    catalyze development that no individual company can undertake. ATP
    support will assist the industry in its own efforts to get a jump on
    the emerging worldwide markets that are rapidly developing.

For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing
requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program:

        (800)-ATP-FUND [(800)-287-3863]
        e-mail: atp@micf.nist.gov
        fax: (301) 926-9524

        A430 Administration Building
        National Institute of Standards and Technology
        Gaithersburg, MD  20899-0001

For technical information, contact:

        Jim Hill, Program Manager
        (301) 975-5851
        e-mail: jhill@micf.nist.gov
        fax: (301) 990-4192

December 1994