Service Tools And Equipment; Recovery/Recycle Station; Leak Detector - Komatsu 930E-2 Shop Manual

SERVICE TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

RECOVERY/RECYCLE STATION

Whenever refrigerant must be removed from the sys-
tem, a dual purpose station as shown in Figure 9-7,
performs both recovery and recycle procedures which
follows the new guidelines for handling used refriger-
ant. The recovered refrigerant can then be recycled to
reduce contaminants, and reused in the same machine
or fleet.
NOTE: To be re-sold, the gas must be "re-claimed"
which leaves it as pure as new, but requires equipment
normally too expensive for all but the largest refrigera-
tion shops.
Equipment is also available to just remove or extract
the refrigerant. Extraction equipment does not clean
the refrigerant - it is used to recover the refrigerant from
an AC system prior to servicing.
To accomplish this, the recovery/recycle station sepa-
rates the oil from the refrigerant and filters the refriger-
ant multiple times to reduce moisture, acidity, and
particulate matter found in a used refrigerant.
FIGURE 9-3. RECOVERY/RECYCLE STATION
M9-8
Mixing different types of refrigerant will damage
equipment. Dedicate one recovery/recycle station
to each type of refrigerant processing to avoid
equipment damage.
DISPOSAL of the gas removed requires laboratory
or manufacturing facilities.
Test equipment is available to confirm the refrigerant
in the system is actually the type intended for the
system and has not been contaminated by a mixture
of refrigerant types.
Recycle equipment must meet certain standards as
published by the Society of Automotive Engineers and
carry a UL approved label. The basic principals of
operation remain the same for all machines, even if the
details of operation differ somewhat.

LEAK DETECTOR

The electronic detector (Figure 9-4) is very accurate
and safe. It is a small hand-held device with a flexible
probe used to seek refrigerant leaks. A buzzer, alarm
or light will announce the presence of even the smallest
leak.
Note that electronic leak detectors are available for
use only with R-12 or only with R-134a, while other
models are suitable for use with either.
FIGURE 9-4. TYPICAL ELECTRONIC LEAK
Air Conditioning System
for HFC 134a Refrigerant
DETECTOR
M09010 6/97