A wide range of vehicles going into production this year will be the first to feature a new "zero leak" air conditioning fitting from Visteon Corp.
Visteon developed the patented metal seal fitting to eliminate refrigerant leakage stemming from air conditioning connections in vehicles. The fitting is designed to be very robust, resisting contamination during assembly and exceeding service requirements, the company says. The metal seal fitting will be featured on several vehicles launching in North America, South America, Europe and Asia in 2012. Over the next two years, Visteon expects to provide approximately 15 million metal seal fitting assemblies on more than 3.5 million vehicles annually.
Visteon says the metal seal fitting is positioned for continued growth, as future legislation is expected to further emphasize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"This fitting exceeds the demanding requirements for R134a, R1234yf and other known alternative refrigerants presently in development," said Brian Sullivan, Visteon fluid transport global product line director.
Visteon says its metal seal fitting currently is the only fitting classified as a metal gasket under the SAE J2727 refrigerant emission chart, and uniquely achieves the highest level of vehicle CO2 credits for a fitting under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for reduced leakage air conditioning systems.
Additional advantages of the design include protection from damage due to handling, minimal pressure drop due to the full-flow internal design, and assembly and service robustness. Visteon’s metal seal fitting is available globally in multiple sizes, meeting the demand for common products in all regions driven by the growth of global vehicle platforms.
"The metal seal fitting is an example of completely changing the approach to a persistent industry challenge," Sullivan explained. "Rather than determining how much refrigerant leakage is acceptable, there is now an option to eliminate this source of refrigerant leakage and thus greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
Earlier this year, Visteon’s metal seal fitting was selected as a finalist for an Automotive News PACE Award for superior innovation.