Air conditioning (AC) used in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles provides a comfortable cabin environment and plays a critical role in safety for:
– Delivery trucks
– Shuttles
– Interstate tracker trailers
– Emergency response vehicles (e.g., ambulances and fire engines)
Cabin comfort helps maintain driver concentration to ensure goods and people are transported safely. Reliable, energy-efficient AC systems are essential for these heavily used vehicles that often travel considerable distances.
Until the late 1990s, the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant R-12 was the most widely used refrigerant in these systems. Since the industry’s shift to using non-ozone depleting refrigerants, however, the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant freon 134a has become a reliable and effective alternative to R-12. While modern vehicles have AC systems that use freon 134a, antiquated mobile AC systems have been retrofitted to use R-134a.