RACINE, WI - Modine Manufacturing Co. last week displayed and demonstrated the operation of a vehicular air conditioning system that uses carbon dioxide (CO2) as a refrigerant. The prototype system was introduced at the 2000 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Automotive Alternate Refrigerant Systems Symposium in Scottsdale, AZ.

Modine installed the air conditioning system on a BMW 328i. The new heat exchangers had to be direct, drop-in replacements for the existing components, having the same size and volume.

Steve Memory, manager of heat transfer research for the company, stated, “This symposium gives Modine the opportunity to demonstrate not only our expertise in the development of high-performance heat exchangers, but also our ability to do complete air conditioning system design.”

Initial testing and preparation took place at the company’s tech center. “In the Racine Technical Center, we were able to quantify various heat exchanger designs and experiment with a number of control methodologies,” said Memory.

Vehicle preparation took place at the Climate System Division’s Wind Tunnel and Technical Support facility in Harrodsburg, KY.