One of the main aspects analyzed in the design of a product is its environmental impact during the life cycle. Motivated by the need to combat global warming, conserve energy and comply with environmental legislation increasingly stringent, the market for systems with natural refrigerants such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 / R-744), is experiencing a significant growth in all world. Following this trend and seeking to maximize the performance of these systems typically low, POLO has for the past six years research on light commercial applications that use CO2 as a refrigerant.

Therefore, the laboratory has a test bench (left in picture) designed to be easily rearranged enabling the investigation of different architectures cycle, and a calorimeter (right in picture) specifically developed for the study of CO2 compressors. Both experimental apparatus were largely automated and instrumented to allow monitoring and control of all parameters and conditions related to the cooling process. The experimental facility operates a refrigeration cycle complete with two thermostatic baths: one with water, exchanging heat in the gas cooler, and the other with ethylene glycol, exchanging heat in the evaporator. The calorimeter, in turn, uses a hot loop, where the entire circuit is located in superheated steam region and the section of Tests have both temperature and air velocity strictly controlled.