An Empirical Model for Refrigerant Flammability Based on Molecular Structure and Thermodynamics

Published

July 11, 2018

Author(s)

Gregory T. Linteris, Ian Bell, Mark O. McLinden

Abstract

Screening methods for refrigerant blend flammability from metrics that can be easily calculated are of great interest to the refrigerant industry. Existing flammability metrics such as heat of combustion are not adequate for hydrofluorocarbon blends. Therefore, alternative metrics are needed that can be used to assess the flammability of refrigerant blends without resorting to time- consuming experimental measurements. In this work we study the combination of the maximum adiabatic flame temperature and the fluorine- substitution ratio as metrics for modeling the flammability of refrigerant blends. The combination of these metrics yields an estimate of the flammability class of refrigerants (both blends and pure fluids) containing hydrofluorocarbon and hydrocarbon components. The calculations of adiabatic flame temperature are carried out with the open-source chemical kinetics software package Cantera using a mechanism available in the literature.

Conference Dates

July 9-12, 2018

Conference Location

West Lafayette, IN, US

Conference Title

17th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

refrigerant flammability, ASHRAE34, ASTM E-681

Citation

Linteris, G. , Bell, I. and McLinden, M. (2018), An Empirical Model for Refrigerant Flammability Based on Molecular Structure and Thermodynamics, 17th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue, West Lafayette, IN, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=925796 (Accessed October 23, 2025)