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ARTI MCLR Program
The Materials Compatibility and Lubricant Research (MCLR) program (1991-2001) was a multi-year research grant administered by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI), a not-for-profit organization for scientific research in the public interest. The MCLR program supported critical research to accelerate the introduction of CFC and HCFC refrigerant substitutes. The MCLR program addressed refrigerant and lubricant properties, materials compatibility, system related issues, and test methods development. The work was guided by the MCLR Advisory Committee which consisted of technical experts from the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry and government agencies.
This program was supported, in part, by U.S. Department of Energy grant number DE-FG02-91CE23810. Federal funding supporting this program constituted 93.36% of allowable costs. Funding from non-government sources supporting this program consisted of direct cost sharing totaling 6.64% of allowable costs, and significant in-kind contributions from the air- conditioning and refrigeration industry.
ARTI managed and subcontracted a number of MCLR research projects and a data collection and dissemination effort. Detailed results from these projects are reported in technical reports prepared by each subcontractor.
All reports have since been consolidated in electronic format on CD-ROM. Contact Steve Szymurski at szymurski@ari.org.
The MCLR program conducted extensive research on the properties and materials compatibility of HCFC-123, HCFC-124, HCFC-142b, HFC-32, HFC-125, HFC-134a, HFC- 143a, HFC-152a and HFC-245ca with a number of lubricants. Although HCFC refrigerants with alkylbenzene and polyglycol lubricants were included in the initial screening tests, most of the work was centered on HFC refrigerants with polyolester (POE) lubricants. Baseline comparative measurements were also conducted with CFC-11, CFC-12 and HCFC-22 with mineral oil. Properties examined included thermophysical and transport properties and infrared spectra of refrigerants; miscibility, viscosity, and foaming characteristics of refrigerant-lubricant mixtures. Compatibility of refrigerant-lubricant mixtures were tested with metals, motor insulating materials, elastomers, plastics, desiccants, process fluids, and lubricant additives. System related issues studied included lubricant circulation, fractionation of blends, effects of system contaminants, products of motor burn-outs, flushing and clean-out methods, the effectiveness of desiccant driers, and limited heat transfer enhancement technologies. Methods development research focused on the development of an accelerated method for screening the compatibility of motor insulating materials with new refrigerant-lubricant mixtures and research to improve methods for testing the flammability of refrigerants and refrigerant blends.
All projects have been completed.
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