Environmentally friendly air conditioning for trains : field data measurement and analysis on the ICE 3 air-cycle system : testing, measurement and evaluation of systems with natural refrigerants for sustainable cooling and heating in means of public transport - substitution of fluorinated greenhouse gases : final report / by Reinhard Aigner, Andreas Krawanja, Dr. Christian Luger, Maik Wollweber (Liebherr-Transportation Systems GmbH & Co KG, Korneuburg), Dr. Peter Claus, Leonhard Hörth, Dr. Mario Streng (DB Systemtechnik GmbH, Munich) ; on behalf of the German Environment Agency ; study performed by: Liebherr-Transportation Systems GmbH & Co KG ; edited by: Section III 1.4 Substance-related Product Issues Gabriele Hoffmann

Abstract

Current air-conditioning systems for railway vehicles predominantly use fluorinated refrigerants, which will be phased down in the coming years because of their damaging impact on the climate. Motivated by the need to implement environmentally friendly technologies that will be available for the long term for the air conditioning of passenger trains, Liebherr and Deutsche Bahn conducted a comparison of the annual energy consumption and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of railway heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) using air and R-134a as refrigerants. Systems in operation and advanced systems were both assessed. Measurement data and model calculations obtained from systems in operation formed the basis for evaluation. For the average primary annual energy consumption for cooling, the air-cycle systems, which use air as refrigerant, had savings of 16% and 28%, respectively, compared to the R-134a systems that were considered. The higher investment costs of air-cycle systems are compensated by lower operating costs, particularly lower energy costs, and by lower maintenance costs, so that air-cycle systems have the advantage in terms of economic efficiency. As a result, air-cycle systems are an environmentally friendly, economical and reliable solution to the refrigerant issue.