GHG REFRIGERANTS

(now known as Autofrost or R-406A)

GHG invented a substitute for CFC-12 (aka Dupont FREON-12(R)) refrigerant in his kitchen in August 1990. It is known as GHG REFRIGERANT-12 SUBSTITUTE and it is now manufactured at People's Welding Supply (next to Nick's) on the Levee in W. Lafayette. It has been used in over 2,000 cars and over 10,000 pieces of other refrigeration equipment by 1994. ASHRAE has designated it as R-406A refrigerant. CFC-12 (FREON-12(R)) has been linked to the destruction of the Ozone layer. On August 26, 1994 the US EPA "approved" (listed on the SNAP list) GHG for most retrofit uses except for cars. It appeared in the August 26 FEDERAL REGISTER. (postscript), or PDF format.(Adobe Acrobat). On October 16, 1996, the EPA approved R-406A for use in cars as well.

GHG holds two US patents, numbers 5,151,207 and 5,214,929 on this invention.

GHG INTERVIEWED ON SAM STEIGER RADIO/TV TALK SHOW on 4/14/95.

On 4/14/95, GHG was interviewed on the Sam Steiger radio & TV talk show originating in Phoenix, AZ, on the subject of refrigerants and R-406A. Recently the Arizona state legislature had passed a bill authorizing production of CFC-12 refrigerant in violation of federal law. As of 4/14/95, the so called "Freon Bill" was on the governor's desk for signature. On 4/17/95, Governor Fife Symington, signed the bill into state law!

The entire interview lasted around 25 minutes and is broken down into 16 smaller sound clips. Sounds are mono, sampled at 8000 hz, in ".au" (mulaw) Sun format.

The icon will give you the original ".au" file, which is rather large and slow to download. Clicking on the icon will give you a Real-Audio(tm) encoded version of the file, which is 1/8 to 1/10 the size of the original .au file and almost as good in quality. You need to have the Real-Audio player installed to listen to .ra files. See http://www.realaudio.com to get a player.

1 min 45 secs, 842K bytes. 102K bytes.
Going on the air, introductions, etc.: 2 mins 2 secs, 955K bytes. 120K bytes.
Description of R-406A and dispelling the "myth" about the: patent on Dupont Freon "just expiring".; 2 mins 23 secs, 1118K bytes. 140K bytes.
Talk about why refrigerants are "corrosive" when wet.: 1 min 29 secs, 698K bytes. 87K bytes.
Explanation of how different oils relate to refrigerants.: 1 min 3 secs, 489K bytes. 61K bytes.
What are CFC and HCFC refrigerants and phaseout dates for HCFCs.: 1 min 43 secs, 804K bytes. 101K bytes.
What is in R-406A.: 1 min 0 secs, 469K bytes. 59K bytes.
What modifications are needed (none for stationary refrigeration).: Leaks thru nitrile hoses.. barrier hoses ok.; 2 mins 33 secs, 1193K bytes. 149K bytes.
Why [Dupont] Suva refrigerants are not more corrosive than R12.: 1 min 5 secs, 506K bytes. 63K bytes.
R-406A is EPA approved under the SNAP program.: 1 min 0 secs, 466K bytes. 58K bytes.
Where to buy R-406A (1-800-424-3836) & Illegal R-12 smuggling.: 2 mins 22 secs, 1109K bytes. 139K bytes.
Other interests and activities concerning R-406A.: 0 mins 43 secs, 332K bytes. 42K bytes.
Medical inhalers which currently use R12.: 1 min 27 secs, 681K bytes. 85K bytes.
Explanation of HFC refrigerant class.. (CFC & HCFC expl earlier).: 0 mins 14 secs, 111K bytes. 14K bytes.
Discussion of PAG oils used [automotive] for R-134a and failures.: 2 mins 24 secs, 1125K bytes. 141K bytes.
Wrap up and closing comments.: 0 mins 31 secs, 241K bytes. 30K bytes.
Listener one response..: 4 mins 5 secs, 1918K bytes. 240K bytes.
Listener two response..: 1 min 16 secs, 594K bytes. 75K bytes.
Listener three response..: 2 mins 3 secs, 961K bytes. 120K bytes.
Listener four response..: 2 mins 44 secs, 1284 bytes. 161K bytes.
Listener five response..

GHG INTERVIEWED ON SAM STEIGER RADIO/TV TALK SHOW on 7/05/95.

This second interview was announcing R-406A to be legal for automotive on 9/18/95. Also performance discussion, and discussion of GHG "High Performance" refrigerant.

On 7/13/95, a rule change took effect which ended up stopping the 9/18/95 "legal-to-sell" [for cars] date. However, the EPA SNAP approval process [for automotive] is still pending. [R-406A was finally approved for Automotive use on 10/16/1996]

Part1 - 5 mins, 2.5 Megs

303K bytes

Part2 - 5 mins, 2.5 Megs

307K bytes.

PUBLICATIONS

The paper A DROP-IN CFC-12 REPLACEMENT FOR AUTOMOTIVE AIRCONDITIONING was presented at the 1992 International Refrigeration Conference held at Purdue University, July 1992. It describes the initial invention of GHG Refrigerant-12 Substitute(R) and early automotive uses.

CFC-12/OIL fire
From a slide shown during the conference presentation. A mixture of CFC-12 and 15% by volume of Suniso 5GS compressor mineral oil, typical of what is found inside an automotive Airconditioning system, was vented (May 1991, before the EPA ban on venting) and ignited. GHG is on the left, and Bob Miller is on the right. As one can see, R-12 and oil burn just fine.

SOME SAFETY STUDIES OF A TERNARY REFRIGERANT (postscript) was presented at the 1994 International Refrigeration Conference held at Purdue University, held July 19-22. Same file in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat)
.

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