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The future of climate maintenance
The Pappas car dealership on Schippingerstrasse in Graz moves no fewer than 100 cars through its workshop every day, making it the largest Mercedes-Benz specialist in Styria.
The future of climate maintenance
In the spacious workshop hall you can find all model series and years of manufacture from the traditional Stuttgart manufacturer. Right behind a light blue 280 SL convertible from the 1960s, a current Mercedes-Maybach S 560 4MATIC is waiting for its air conditioning to be checked. Workshop employee Thomas Pöschl opens the hood over the 4.0-liter V8 biturbo and connects the air conditioning system to the AVL Ditest ADS 310 air conditioning service unit via two hose valves.
“We bought this service device because we want to remain at the cutting edge of technology,” explains Pappas operations manager Karl Proß. Although the coolant R744, which practically consists of pure CO2, is initially only used in the premium Mercedes S-Class sedan and coupe vehicles, he expects that it will also find its way into the mid-range in the future.
“Since we are currently the only Mercedes workshop in the region with a CO2 service device, we always get customers from smaller companies in the area,” reports Proß.
AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITIONING SERVICE
The natural refrigerant CO₂ can be safely released into the ambient air at the beginning of the service procedure. The ADS 310 fully automatically creates a vacuum in the system, dries the system and pre-fills it with fresh CO₂. After a leak test, the system is completely filled, reaching a resting pressure of around 60 bar. “The high pressure was one of the challenges in developing the ADS 310,” says Dietmar Muchitsch, head of product management at AVL Ditest. “In our tests, the couplings withstood a pressure of up to 700 bar,” adds AVL Ditest technician Peter Kerschenbauer. The big difference to the refrigerant r1234yf, which is currently required in new vehicles: Although this circulates in the air conditioning systems at a significantly lower pressure, it is around ten times more expensive than CO₂ and can break down into deadly gases in the event of a vehicle fire. The German ADAC, among others, is appealing to automobile manufacturers to further develop harmless and environmentally friendly CO₂ air conditioning systems as quickly as possible and to establish them as standard equipment in all series vehicles. AVL Ditest will be happy because with their ADS 310 service device they are in pole position when it comes to air conditioning maintenance.