Teko Sees Potential for CO₂ in Air Conditioning Market

German-based OEM Teko, known for its range of transcritical CO₂ systems for retail and industrial applications, is now targeting the air conditioning market with its CO₂ solutions.

So stated Andreas Meier, Managing Director at Teko, during a webinar – titled “360° View on CO₂: From Past to Future -Retail, Industrial and Air Conditioning Applications” – at the Virtual Trade Show on September 1.

The Virtual Trade Show, hosted by shecco, publisher of this website, was a global event that took place live over a 24-hour period from September 1-2.

The webinars and product information from 77 exhibitors will continue to be available on the show platform until September 30. Those who did not participate in the live event can register for access to the post-show material here.

While CO2 as a refrigerant offers advantages for retail and industrial refrigeration systems,it also has benefits for systems like air conditioning, including safety, energy efficiency, and potential return on investment, according to Meier. “There are [air conditioning] solutions which we can cover with natural refrigerants completely,” he added.

Teko is targeting the air conditioning market, “because that is a big market,” Meier noted. “We want to have a part of it.”

ROXSTAchill is designed for outdoor installation in industrial cooling applications, according to a Teko preview document. These include medium-temperature (– 4 to -8°C/24.8-17.6°F) cooling capacities of 150 to 520kW (42.7-147.9TR); air conditioning (12 to 7°C/53.6-44.6°F) capacities of 215 to 700kW (61.1-199TR); and process cooling (20 to 15°C/68-59°F) capacities of 260 to 860kW (73.9-244.5TR). It features efficiency-enhancing ejectors.

Mostly CO₂

TEKO’s “360° View on CO₂: From Past to Future -Retail, Industrial and Air Conditioning Applications” took place on September 1.

Teko began making CO₂ products in 2004. Today, 90-95% of Teko’s products use CO₂ and the company trains 300 technicians on CO₂ applications yearly, according Meier. Teko’s systems, which have capacities ranging from 1kW to 3MW (.28- 853TR), include some employing ammonia (NH₃) or propane (R290).

At the Virtual Trade Show, Teko operated four virtual booths linked via video to a real booth at its factory, where it displayed three of its CO₂ systems, ROXSTAG6, ROXSTAsmart, ROXSTAcube mini.

Teko’s range also includes the ROXSTAmicro CO₂ air- or water-cooled units.ROXSTAmicro suits clients that cannot use propane (R290), such as laboratories that use lasers. Due to safety concerns “there is no flammable refrigerant allowed,” but CO₂ can still provide a natural refrigerant solution, Meier said.