
Modern day refrigeration and air conditioning compressor lubricants have complex requirements. Selecting the right one is therefore an important decision that will impact the reliability and efficiency of your compressor.
At the time of writing, more than 1 billion compressors worldwide have been lubricated by Emkarate® RL oil, a product line that aims to meet the needs of service engineers and compressor manufacturers alike. This article offers a guide to bespoke industry standard oils, specifically Emkarate®, and explains the features of its oil and usage in compressors.
What is refrigeration compressor oil?
Refrigeration compressor oils are synthetic polyol ester lubricants whose primary purpose is to offer effective protection against wear and tear for steel and aluminium surfaces, to guarantee service longevity and ensure optimum system efficiency.
It is critical you check each compressor system design for CFC (chlorofluorocarbon), HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbon) or HFC (hydroflurocarbon) chemical make-up, so you can identify which type of lubricant is compatible with the refrigerant. Retrofits will be necessary where CFC and HCFC refrigerants have become obsolete.
Emkarate® refrigeration lubricants
Emkarate® products are manufactured by CPI Fluid Engineering, based out of Midland (Michigan), a leading international supplier of synthetic lubricants to the air conditioning and refrigeration industry, with over 45 years of expertise engineering fluids for complex applications in compression and heat transfer. Their products have a role to play at nearly every stage in food processing, storage and transport, and are adaptable to many different system requirements and compressor types.
As an industry leader for HFC applications, Emkarate® offers proven performance. Its product series meets the highest laboratory standards, with hundreds of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) approvals across different industry segments, such as Air Conditioning (Residential, Commercial & Transport), Appliance, Automotive and Aftermarket Applications.
What type of oil does Emkarate® use?
Emkarate® RL lubricants typically use polyol ester (POE) oil, which is a wax-free synthetic oil typically used in refrigeration compressors. POE lubricants are developed and tested prior to OEM certification, which gives the end user some formal assurance that a specific lubricant will enable equipment to operate effectively and with longevity.
POE oil is designed for compatibility with refrigerants such as R-12, R-134a and R-410A, and as a lubricant in refrigeration systems that hitherto would have used mineral oil. The newer POE oils found in Emkarate® RL lubricants offer enhanced physical properties, a significant advantage over conventional mineral oils.
Emkarate® RL’s polyol ester lubricant oils are formulated to meet the needs of modern refrigeration and air conditioning compressors, and are hence tailored to accommodate a diverse range of compressor types in systems that use HFC refrigerants.
Miscibility and viscosity
The Emkarate® RL brand offers a full range of viscosities coupled with high quality, reliability and performance indicators for both original fill oils and aftermarket ‘retrofit’ service oils.
Their lubricants mix with the refrigerant to create a single clear phase and ensure optimal HFC system performance. The lower-temperature oils in the Emkarate® RL range are characterised by different viscosity grades and in a broad range of sizes.
Synthetic oils are far more miscible with refrigerants than standard mineral oils and provide more effective lubrication and greater stability than their natural counterparts.
The wide viscosity range (7cSt/35-40 SUS to 220 cSt/1100 SUS) ensures broad compatibility with various applications. A higher viscosity index is proof that their effective viscosity will not change too much with the more pronounced alterations in temperature experienced by most refrigeration and air con systems. As a result, they need to be not only compatible and miscible with HFCs, CFCs and HCFCs, but also with mineral and alkylbenzene oils.
Emkarate® polyol ester lubricant oil is the go-to choice for HFC refrigerant compressor systems and the preferred option for equipment servicing and retrofits.
Optimum chemical and thermal stability
Emkarate® RL lubricants are also highly regarded for their stability around HFC refrigerants and usage in the construction industry with a wide range of metals, elastomers and other polymeric materials. They can be used in a range of different operating temperatures, thanks to their chemical and thermal stability, which provides increased safety from potential fire and flash points.
According to CPI, more compressor manufacturers have approved use of Emkarate® lubricants than any other competitive oil on the market. One reason for this is that Emkarate® refrigeration lubricant products are touted as offering superior wear protection and greater compressor system reliability, and thus providing enhanced lubricity and energy efficiency. Their base fluids contain minimal additives and are specifically formulated to ensure outstanding performance.