Mobile

e Air Co
onditio
oning Hoses
H
DESCRIPTIO
ON OF TECH NICAL CHAL
LLENGE

The well-knowwn refrigerant R134a will be

e banned as a highly climatee-damaging fluorinated
greenhouse gas.
g Replacem ments include R1234yf, whic ch, unfortunateely is classifie
ed as
extremely flam
mmable and a also reacts when heated to form
f highly coorrosive hydroffluoric acid.
State-of-the-aart MAC hose es are R1234yf also is by far moree expensive th
han R134a. Bo oth of those faactors are prommpting
tested for lea
ak rates in the range of manufacturers to calculate a lower reserv ant for their sysstems, which in turn,
ve of refrigera
2 – 5 g/a loss
s of refrigerant. increases the leak rate requ
uirements.

Standard AC hoses consistt of flexible tub bing with alumminum connecttors on both endse to
connect to othher componen nts of the AC circuit.
c In rece
ent times, Inteernal Heat Excchanger (IHX)
hoses push onto the marke et. An IHX hos se is an AC ho ose with a buildd-in heat exch
hanger. In the
IHX hose, two t each other exchanging heat between
o air condition ing lines run in contra flow to
one inner andd one outer pip pe. It uses the
e cold vapor fro om the evapoorator to cool thhe hot liquid
before it enters the expans ion device, resulting in incre eased cooling . The amount of energy
used by the air
a conditioning g system can be reduced by y taking advanntage of the inncreased
cooling. This results in incre
eased fuel eco onomy and reduced emissioons.
In an IHX hose, two air con nditioning
lines run in contra
c flow to e
each other Currently, moost AC system s are tested fo or a leak rate of 2 - 7 g/a of refrigerant coorresponding
exchanging heat
h between an inner to a helium leak rate in the range of 10-5 mbar∙l/s. Mos st air conditionning componen nts are
and an outerr pipe and therrefore currently teste
ed for leak rate er of 10-4 to 10-5 mbar∙l/s, buut leak rate req
es in the orde quirement mayy
need to be teested more inttensively. become more e stringent withh the ongoing introduction of
o R1234yf

THE INFICON SOLUTION

N

Leak testing standard AC

C hoses in component pro
oduction

Cllam shell testing Va

acuum chambber testing

Throughput Medium High

Investment Medium High

Integral / Loca
alizing Lo
ocalizing meth
hod Integral meethod,
leak needs to be loocalized later

Comparison of
o leak testing
g methods for component
c prroduction
 LEAK TESTIN G OF COMPONENTS
MOBILE AIR CO NDITIONING HOSES

In a clam sh ell system, small clamps are a placed arouund the conne ectors to be
tested. The A AC hose is theen evacuated anda pressurizeed with helium m. If the
connection iss leaky, the heelium concentrration inside thhe clam shell will
w increase.
The Protec P P3000(XL) Hellium Leak Detector is then cconnected to the t clams and d
draws a sam ple from the in nner volume ofo the clam sheell. If helium iss present in
the sample, iit is then detec
cted by the Wise Technologgy helium sens sor inside the
Protec P3000 0(XL). The hig
gh flow of the Protec P30000(XL) offers so ome unique
benefits for cclam shell testing as its high flow allows foor all clam she
ells to be
tested simulta aneously. Onlly when a leak k is detected wwill the test sys
stem
sequence thrrough the indiv vidual clams and
a locate whiich connection n is leaking.
AC hoses arre tested with multiplexer cllam shell
systems, allo
owing to locatte the leak if th
he hose is With this testting method, the integrity of the hose itsellf is not tested
d.
found leaky in one test se
et-up.

For higher th hroughput, the e complete AC C hose can be tested in a va acuum

chamber. Fo or this testing process, the hose is sealedd at its ends before
b testing.
Once the cha amber lid is cllosed, vacuumm pumps pull a vacuum. The e AC hose
and the cham mber are evac aneously; subssequently the AC hose is
cuated simulta
backfilled witth helium. He elium then hass the opportunnity to migrate outwards and d
if a leak is prresent, the INFICON LDS30 000 Helium Leeak Detector (which
( is
valved into th he vacuum pu umps after the
e part has beenn filled with he
elium) detects
the helium a atoms as they emerge from the AC hose.

With this tessting method, however,

h an additional
a testi ng step is required to locate
e
the leaks in ffaulty subasse
emblies for subsequent repaair.

AC hoses arre tested in va

acuum chambe
ers with
high through
hput.
n component production
Leak testing IHX hoses in
IHX hoses are e typically testted in vacuum m chamber sy ystems with aan LDS3000 HeliumH Leak
Detector . If th
hey have interrnal brazing/ welds,
w the test consists of twwo phases:
1. Testing the internal inte egrity of the hose,
h i.e. check if refrigerantt from one tubbe can leak
into the other
o tube by oonly charging one line with helium
h and deetecting its mig
gration into
the otherr.
2. Testing the integrity off the hose to th he outside, i.e. check if refriggerant may le
eak to the
outside byb charging bo oth lines with helium
h and detect the preseence of helium m in the
vacuum chamber.
c

BENEFITS OF
O LEAK TES
STING AC HO
OSES WITH TRACER
T GA
AS
 Accurate and repeatab ble measurements for reliab ble results of leeak testing
 High sensitivity leak te sting to find th
he smallest leaaks
 p process to d
Multi-step detect leaks ea arly in the prod
duction processs

For more in
nformation, please visitt us at www
w.inficonautoomotive.com
m

w w w .i n f i c o n .c o m r ea c h u s@ i n f i co n . c o m
Du
ue to our continuing pprogram of product im
mprovements, speciffications are subject tto change without no
otice.
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