Honeywell has collaborated with Haier Group to introduce what it claims is the world's first HFO refrigerant air conditioner.

The demonstration unit, previewed at the Chillventa show in Nuremberg, Germany, contains Honeywell's new HFO blend refrigerant, Solstice L-41.

The unit is the first produced by the Haier Network Smart Appliance Project, a cooperative effort between Honeywell's Shanghai R&D center and the Haier National Laboratory.

Honeywell's HFO refrigerant, SolsticeL-41, is claimed to offer outstanding cooling performance in all regions without the increase in power consumption seen with R-32 and R-410A when the ambient temperature goes up.

"And, with an ASHRAE A2L rating, it provides a welcome margin of safety over hydrocarbons. It is the ideal refrigerant for compact high-efficiency air conditioning systems," said the company.

Solstice L-41 is said to offer a global warming potential of less than 500, "significantly lower than the currently used refrigerants like R-410A with a GWP of 2088, and HFC32, with a GWP of 675".