Air conditioning connection pipe aluminum substitute copper is deception or technological innovation

Now is the peak season for air-conditioning sales. The competition between air-conditioning manufacturers is in full swing. At this time, Midea Air-Condition has launched the "Copper Heart" campaign and declared that the products must be used in 100% copper tubes. At the same time, it also broke the news that some companies secretly used aluminum tubes instead of copper tubes to deceive consumers. This broke the news in the air conditioning market has caused great repercussions, for a time on air conditioning refrigerators and other refrigeration products use aluminum substitute copper is fraud or technological innovation, whether suspected of infringement of consumer interests and other disputes, become the hot spot of the air conditioning market this summer.

The two camps hold their own words

At a home appliance supermarket in Beijing's North Third Ring Road, the reporter found that air-conditioning promoters were talking about connecting the air-conditioning units used in the outdoor unit and the indoor unit, divided into two camps: the air-conditioning promoters belonging to the brass camp, the attitude of the air-conditioning promoters firmly told Customers, their brand has always been using copper connection pipe, copper pipe than aluminum corrosion resistance, but the price is more expensive. Some brands also hang huge billboards on limited sites to explain how to use copper tubes to guarantee the quality of the connecting tubes. The new Division air conditioning promoters belonging to the aluminum tube camp told customers that some models of the brand use copper-aluminum composite connecting tubes with two ends of copper and aluminum tubes. The replacement of copper tubes with aluminum tubes has technically passed. After processing can overcome the problem of corrosion.

A sales manager of Midea Air Conditioning told reporters that due to the rise in copper prices, many air-conditioning manufacturers have taken into account the cost pressures. Since last year, they began to steal posts and replace aluminum tubes with aluminum tubes in air-conditioning tubes. The commonly used method is air conditioning. The two ends of the connecting pipe use copper pipes, and the middle one uses aluminum pipes to “hide the eyes and ears”. Since aluminum tubes are silver-white, manufacturers have wrapped a layer of copper-colored wrapping paper over aluminum tubes, which is difficult for consumers to identify. The relevant person in charge of the brand also pointed out that the aluminum tube air conditioner was not very different from the copper tube air conditioner when it was first used, but from the second year onwards, it would have many quality problems, even causing serious consequences such as air conditioning explosion and fire.

In the interview, the reporter found that although the controversy continues, most air conditioner companies have already introduced air conditioners equipped with copper-aluminum connecting pipes to the market, and the proportion of such products has been rising in a straight line.

Hisense is a pioneer in replacing aluminum with aluminum. Zhao Keke, director of Hisense Air Conditioning Research Institute, made it clear that starting from 2006, most of Hisense's domestic sales products were copper-aluminum connectors. He stressed: "Hisense began research on new material substitution in 2002. After a series of long-term reliability studies such as anti-corrosion, anti-leakage, pressure resistance, and welding tests, we believe that the copper-aluminum connection pipe is fully equipped. There is no problem with the performance and life expectancy of the copper tube in actual use. From the feedback of more than one year on the market, there is no bad report. This is a proven and mature technology."

Huang Xiaofeng, deputy general manager of Kelon’s air-conditioning, agreed with this view. He believes that the copper-aluminum connecting pipes used to connect indoor and outdoor air conditioners have been proven to be able to achieve the effect of traditional connecting pipes after long-term verification by multiple companies. It is a matter of technology and quality.

However, Cheng Zhiming, director of the Institute of Home Air Conditioning in the United States, told reporters that Midea stopped the production of copper-aluminum connecting pipe products last year due to various reasons. At present, there is certainly no beautiful copper-aluminum connecting pipe air conditioner on the market. It is also inside the United States. It is not advisable to use aluminum tubes instead of copper tubes. Cheng Zhiming said that the study of copper substitution is still being done. If the technology is truly mature, it does not rule out the possibility of introducing alternative products in the future. However, at present, Midea believes that technology promotion is not feasible.

Copper price rise stimulates copper alternative research

It is understood that the main purpose of replacing copper with aluminum is to reduce costs. From the end of 2005, the price of copper rose from 30,000 yuan/ton to the current 65,000 yuan/ton. Although the aluminum price has also risen, it is still much cheaper than copper, and the current price is 20,000 yuan/ton. Because of this, many air-conditioning companies are trying to use aluminum tubes instead of copper tubes. They are mainly used in some low-power and low-cost models. A deputy manager in charge of Xinke air-conditioning marketing told reporters. He calculated a bill: For an air conditioner that requires two 3.5-meter-long connection pipes, the cost of a copper connection pipe is about 100 yuan, and the cost of a copper-aluminum composite connection pipe is about 50 yuan.

According to the reporter's understanding, alternatives to copper used in air-conditioning have now fully penetrated into all parts and components of air-conditioners. The research and development of copper alternative technology is in full swing among most air-conditioning companies.

Alternatives to copper like air conditioning heat exchangers are all aluminum finned heat exchangers and aluminum parallel flow heat exchangers. Aluminum parallel flow heat exchanger technology is derived from automotive air conditioning. Currently, Sanhua Refrigeration Group and Danfoss Group have established joint ventures and the main product is aluminum parallel flow heat exchangers for household air conditioners. All-aluminum air conditioners equipped with parallel flow heat exchangers not only reduce costs, but also provide energy efficiency several times that of traditional heat exchanger air conditioners. The only drawback is that this kind of product cannot be heated. Relevant experts believe that due to the principle of parallel flow heat exchangers, they cannot achieve defrosting of heat exchangers under heating conditions, so they can only be cooled. At the same time, the structure of the parallel flow heat exchanger is relatively complex and difficult to bend. When used in home air conditioners, the cabinet needs to be redesigned, which means that if the company puts into production of parallel flow heat exchanger air conditioning, it needs to transform the production line, and the investment is too high. In this regard, Gree, Oakes, Chigo, Chunlan and other air-conditioning companies have said that in the short term there is no intention of such air-conditioning production.

In the replacement of copper pipes for air conditioning and refrigeration lines (various connection pipes and pipes), because they only require pressure resistance, corrosion resistance, and almost no requirement for heat transfer performance, there are two alternatives for aluminum pipes and steel pipes. It is understood that most aluminum tube replacements developed by air-conditioning manufacturers have only been successfully used in connection with indoor and outdoor machines, and aluminum tubes used in refrigeration lines have encountered many technical problems, including pressure resistance, density, mechanical properties, and chemical properties. The welding process and other aspects are much inferior to those of copper pipes. The development of aluminum tube replacement projects is not going well.

In addition, air-conditioning valve components, enameled steel wire or motor replacement has also been developed, aluminum enameled wire has even been applied in batches.

Is the company declared to be suspected of fraud?

At present, although there are still different concepts in the industry regarding the maturity of aluminum replacement copper for air-conditioning connecting pipes, related copper substitute products have already been put on the market. However, the reporter found in the interview that the promotion and application of this new technology, the attitude of home appliance companies and the good attitude of using new technologies to speculate before, is almost the same silence.

In this regard, the person in charge of a famous air-conditioning company told reporters very reluctantly that many of their low-end air-conditioning products did use aluminum instead of copper technology. They used a copper-aluminum connection tube and they had no problem with quality, but because of concern about consumers. Do not understand that they have no publicity affecting the sales of products.

In the interview, almost all business executives who used copper-aluminum connecting pipes expressed the same explanation for reasons that were not advertised.