Mitsubishi TNB306FPPMC Twin Rotary Inverter Compressor: R410A Technical Data, Model Code Decode and Selection Guide

The Mitsubishi TNB306FPPMC is an inverter-driven hermetic twin rotary compressor in the TNB family, a family the manufacturer catalogue places under R410A. Its three-digit field denotes 30.6 cm3/rev. The catalogue prints 9,880 W cooling capacity at 3,010 W input for both of its 306 displacement rows, the same pair the reseller page prints, and those figures rate at ASHRAE conditions.

Key facts about the Mitsubishi TNB306FPPMC

The Basis column is the point of this table. A figure the manufacturer catalogue prints for the 306 displacement is not the same kind of fact as a figure a reseller prints on a product listing, and neither of them is automatically a figure for the exact code TNB306FPPMC. Where nothing at all is published the table says so rather than borrowing the nearest sibling.

Two entries above are worth pulling out before anything else, because they are the ones a buyer most often gets wrong.

The first is supply voltage. This guide does not state one, and the reason is not that the figure was hard to find. The manufacturer catalogue publishes a per-row supply voltage for its fixed-speed rotary ranges, and then, for the inverter twin rotary series, prints a sentence instead of a number: the compressor must be operated on the proper voltage in accordance with the frequency or the revolution, and the reader is referred to the specification. The reseller page for this model has a field labelled Voltage whose value is the phrase INVERTER Compressor, which is a drive description rather than a voltage. Neither source publishes a figure, so none is quoted here.

The second is the differential between the two catalogue rows. The catalogue prints two rows at the 306 displacement, TNB306FPGMT and TNB306FPNMT, and they are identical in capacity, power, coefficient of performance, weight and oil charge. They differ in one column only, the current, at 13.5 A and 9.3 A. A reader who assumes the code position that changes between those two rows is the power supply code will find that assumption does not survive arithmetic, and the section on the code below sets out why.

What does the TNB306FPPMC model code decode to?

Mitsubishi publishes a model code key for its rotary compressors. It is a key of code groups rather than a positional diagram, and the catalogue prints its own worked example, S N B 130 F G B M T, beside the group list. Aligning the target code against that example is the only defensible way to read it.

The published key groups read as follows, reproduced from the catalogue.

Three of the ten characters in TNB306FPPMC cannot be read off that key, and two more read cleanly only because a second part of the catalogue confirms them independently. The refrigerant reading is the one that matters most, and it is confirmed twice over.

The catalogue contents page lists the inverter compressors by refrigerant, and it reads: R134a Inverter, containing CBB, SBB and TBB; then R410A Inverter, containing SNB and TNB. So the same contents page that says TBB is an R134a family says TNB is an R410A family. That independently confirms the second character reading, N equals R410A, because the CBB, SBB and TBB codes all carry B in the second position, and the key defines B as R134a.

The third character is confirmed the same way. Every one of the five twin rotary families, CBB, SBB, TBB, SNB and TNB, carries B in the third position, and the key defines B as BLDC-Cooling, which is the special series designation for a brushless direct current cooling application. The whole inverter twin rotary block is a BLDC series, which is consistent.

What remains undecoded is the block PPMC. The letter P occupies positions 6 and 7, and it appears in no group listed in the manufacturer key. The letters M and C occupy positions 8 and 9 and are likewise not defined, although M happens to sit in the same position as the M in the catalogue's own example, which still leaves it undefined. This guide does not decode those four characters and does not use them to argue anything about the compressor.

Does the displacement field decode consistently in this family?

The rule under test is that the three-digit field divided by ten gives displacement in cubic centimetres per revolution. It was checked against six codes across three families before being applied here, including both published points inside the TNB family itself.

Six codes, six agreements, no exceptions. The rule holds inside the TNB family at both of its published displacement points, at 22.0 and at 30.6 cm3/rev, and it also holds on a code outside the family. Displacement is therefore the one performance-relevant parameter this guide derives rather than quotes. Nothing else is derived from the model code.

It is worth being explicit about what the three-digit field does not tell you. It does not give capacity, power input, efficiency, weight, oil charge or supply voltage. Those come from the tables below or not at all. A displacement code is a geometric statement about swept volume, and treating it as a performance statement is the most common error in listings for these compressors.

What does the manufacturer publish for the TNB series?

The catalogue carries a TNB series table with three rows, and the 306 displacement appears twice. The table header supplies the units, which matters because the printed rows are otherwise a string of bare numbers.

The two 306 rows are the supply of the capacity and power figures used in this guide. They are TNB306FPGMT and TNB306FPNMT, and neither is TNB306FPPMC. The capacity and power pair is nevertheless the same pair the reseller page prints against TNB306FPPMC, so the pair is corroborated at the 306 displacement level even though the exact code has no catalogue row. This guide reports it that way, as a 306 displacement figure that the reseller page also carries, and does not present it as a catalogue entry for TNB306FPPMC.

The conditions attached to those figures are published, which is a genuine advantage when reading this family. The catalogue states its test conditions and the contents page identifies them as ASHRAE conditions: evaporating temperature 7.2 C, condensing temperature 54.4 C, superheat 27.8 K, subcooling 8.3 K, at rated voltage within ten per cent. The 9,880 W and 3,010 W pair is therefore a rated pair with a stated basis rather than an unlabelled number.

The current column is the outlier. Both 306 rows carry the same 9,880 W capacity, the same 3,010 W power and the same 3.28 coefficient of performance, and they part company only at 13.5 A and 9.3 A. A single-phase reading at a nominal voltage does not explain that. Dividing the published power input by each current gives 223 V for the 13.5 A row and 324 V for the 9.3 A row, and 324 V matches no common nominal supply voltage. The second row therefore cannot be a single-phase line current at a nominal voltage, and if it is a three-phase line current then it implies a power factor well below what an inverter drive would normally show. The catalogue does not label the supply system for either row, so this guide reports the difference and marks its basis unresolved rather than assigning the two rows a voltage.

A related catalogue note is worth recording because it explains why near-identical rows exist. Against its R410A rotary range the catalogue states that several models are also available with different power supplies on request. The TNB306FPGMT and TNB306FPNMT pair, identical apart from current, is consistent with that policy, but the catalogue does not say so explicitly for these two rows and this guide does not assert it.

What does the manufacturer's twin rotary table publish for this family?

TNB sits in a four-family table that is the manufacturer's own statement about what a twin rotary inverter compressor is and what envelope it may be operated inside. The columns are CBB, SBB, SNB and TNB.

Four points follow from that table, and they are the ones that change how a specification is written.

TNB is the largest of the four families. Its displacement band runs from 22.0 to 30.6 cm3/rev, which places the 306 code at the very top of the band rather than in the middle of it. A 306 displacement code has no published step above it within the family. The TNB220 row is the low end of the band.

TNB is one of the two R410A families and it is not an R134a family. CBB and SBB are the R134a pair, and their condensing limit is far lower in temperature terms than the R410A pair's, 81 C against 65 C, because the two refrigerants have different pressure temperature relationships rather than because the hardware is weaker. The pressure limits run the other way, 2.60 MPa against 4.16 MPa. Reading across columns and taking the higher temperature limit with the higher pressure limit would produce a statement that no column supports.

The envelope is genuinely wide on the evaporating side, from -27 C to 26 C, and the discharged gas ceiling of 120 C applies to heat pump duty with 115 C for dehumidifier duty. Both figures carry the catalogue's own qualifier that they also depend on speed and operating area. That qualifier is not decoration. A compressor whose speed range spans 15 to 120 rps has a different hot gas temperature at each end of the range, so a single ceiling is a boundary condition rather than an operating target.

Nothing in this table is a TNB306FPPMC figure. The table is a family statement, and the catalogue states no envelope specifically for the exact code. This guide therefore treats the table as the family envelope that governs the series and says plainly that a row for TNB306FPPMC does not exist.

What does the reseller site publish for the TNB306FPPMC?

The reseller publishes a product page for this exact code, and the page carries two specification blocks that disagree with each other. That is the most important thing on it.

The page opens with a five line summary list, then repeats the specification in a Product Details table further down. Both are reproduced here exactly as printed.

The discrepancy is not random noise, and the arithmetic shows what happened. The summary list pairs 2,150 W input with 23,679 BTU/h. The Product Details table pairs 3,010 W input with 9,880 W and 33,711 BTU/h. Each pair is internally consistent, and the two pairs belong to different displacement codes.

The confirming evidence is one page away. The reseller's own 22 cm3/rev TNB pages, TNB220FLHMC and TNB220FKHMC, print input 2,150 W, capacity 6,940 W and 23,679 BTU/h, with a coefficient of performance of 3.23. The summary list on the 306 page carries the 2,150 W and the 23,679 BTU/h from that 22 cm3/rev block, which means the summary list was populated from the smaller model's data while the Product Details table was populated from the 306 block.

This is verifiable rather than inferential, because the same shop's 306 pages agree with each other and with the catalogue. The five reseller pages that carry a 306 displacement all print the identical Product Details block.

Five different model codes, one identical specification block. That is a template effect rather than a set of independently measured results, and it means the block cannot be used to tell those five codes apart. What the block does do is agree with the manufacturer catalogue, which is a different and stronger kind of corroboration than five pages agreeing with each other.

The agreement runs line by line. Displacement 30.6 against the catalogue's 30.6. Capacity 9,880 W against the catalogue's 9,880 W. Input 3,010 W against the catalogue's 3,010 W. Coefficient of performance 3.28 against the catalogue's 3.28. Four figures, four agreements, and the reseller block is therefore consistent with a manufacturer source rather than merely self-consistent.

Two other features of the reseller data are worth recording because they limit what can be claimed. The Dimension field prints 264.8A/mm, and the unit string as printed is not a standard dimension unit, so this guide reproduces it verbatim and draws no conclusion from it. The 22 cm3/rev reseller pages print 230.1A/mm in the same field with the same unusual unit string, so the pattern is a formatting habit of the site rather than a property of this compressor.

There is a further caution about the 22 cm3/rev pages specifically. Their block does not agree with the catalogue's own 22 cm3/rev row, which prints 7,130 W capacity, 2,200 W power and a coefficient of performance of 3.24. The reseller prints 6,940 W, 2,150 W and 3.23. The two are internally consistent but numerically different, and the difference is 190 W on capacity and 50 W on power. So the reseller's agreement with the catalogue is a property of the 306 block, not a property of the site in general, and it cannot be assumed across the family.

Do the printed numbers reproduce arithmetically?

Every published ratio in this guide was recomputed from its own terms. The test is simple: divide the printed capacity by the printed power input and see whether the printed coefficient of performance follows. A ratio that can be recomputed is a ratio that was calculated. A ratio that cannot is either a typographical error or a ratio taken from a different pair of numbers than the ones on the page.

The row that matters for this guide passes. The catalogue's 306 rows and the reseller page for TNB306FPPMC all print 9,880 W, 3,010 W and 3.28, and 9,880 divided by 3,010 is 3.2824, which rounds to 3.28. The ratio column in both sources was calculated from the capacity and power columns rather than carried across from somewhere else.

One row in the same catalogue fails, and it is worth naming because it defines the reliability of the rest. The catalogue's SBB172F row prints 2,600 W capacity, 710 W power and a coefficient of performance of 3.68, and 2,600 divided by 710 is 3.6620, which rounds to 3.66 rather than 3.68. The gap is 0.018 on the ratio, or about 0.5 per cent. Working backwards, a ratio of 3.68 against a capacity of 2,600 W implies a power input of 706.5 W rather than the printed 710 W. The discrepancy is confined to that one row and does not touch the TNB rows, which reproduce exactly, but it does mean the catalogue's ratio column should be recomputed rather than trusted when it is quoted as evidence for a decision.

There is a second check available on the reseller's 306 block, and it concerns the imperial capacity. The reseller prints 9,880 W alongside 33,711 BTU/h. Applying the standard conversion factor of 3.412142 BTU per watt hour gives 9,880 multiplied by 3.412142, which is 33,712.0, against the printed 33,711. The residue is 0.96 BTU per hour, which is a rounding artefact and nothing more. The implied factor from the printed pair is 3.412043, which is within 0.003 per cent of the standard factor.

That result is deliberately reported as a negative finding, because this production line has recorded a non-standard conversion factor at 3.4 on other pages of this site. A factor of 3.4 would give 9,880 multiplied by 3.4, which is 33,592, and that is 119 BTU per hour below what the page actually prints. The page did not use it. The same is true of the 22 cm3/rev rows, where 6,940 W is printed against 23,679 BTU/h and the implied factor is 3.412536. So the non-standard 3.4 conversion factor is absent from the TNB pages of this site at both displacement points, and any buyer who has met that defect elsewhere should be told so rather than left to assume it.

A final arithmetic note on the two catalogue 306 rows. They differ only in the current column, and the current cannot be reconciled with the published power input at any single-phase nominal voltage, as the section above sets out. This guide therefore treats the current as a printed value whose basis is unresolved, exactly as printed, and does not use it to infer a supply voltage for TNB306FPPMC.

Which refrigerant does the TNB306FPPMC use?

The refrigerant is R410A, and it is known from three independent statements rather than from a single field on a listing.

The first is the model code. The second character of TNB306FPPMC is N, and the manufacturer key defines N as R410A in its refrigerant type group. The reading is confirmed rather than assumed because the catalogue contents page groups the inverter families by refrigerant: CBB, SBB and TBB appear under R134a Inverter, and SNB and TNB appear under R410A Inverter. Every one of those five family codes carries B in the second character position of its models, and the key defines B as R134a. So a family whose second character is N cannot be an R134a family, and TNB is listed as an R410A family by the manufacturer's own contents.

The second is the catalogue's family envelope table, which lists TNB's refrigerant type as R410A in the same row as its displacement band of 22.0 to 30.6 cm3/rev.

The third is the reseller page, which prints R410A in both of its specification blocks. That is the weakest of the three statements on its own, because the same page contradicts itself on input and capacity, but it agrees with the two manufacturer statements and is recorded for completeness.

Two consequences follow for anyone specifying this compressor, and neither is a manufacturer claim.

Because R410A is a blend rather than a single substance, a system charged with it from a cylinder that has been partially drawn over time can drift in composition. That is a general property of near-azeotropic blends and it applies to this refrigerant, which is why charging practice for blended refrigerants is liquid charging rather than vapour charging. This guide states the general property and does not quantify a composition shift for this compressor.

Because R410A is a hydrofluorocarbon, its use sits inside the European phase-down schedule for fluorinated greenhouse gases. This guide does not quote a global warming potential figure for R410A or for any other refrigerant, because no source consulted for this review carried a value that could be cited directly. The refrigerant designation standard consulted defines the metric and the composition without printing the number, and the environment agency table used for that figure in an earlier guide in this series now returns HTTP 404. Composition is therefore stated and the numeric potential is left blank rather than filled from an unsourced figure.

Which standards govern the performance claim?

A capacity claim is only comparable if its rating conditions are known, and this family is a case where the same catalogue prints two different sets of conditions that share their temperature points but not their superheat.

The ASHRAE and ARI sets are the point of this section. Both are printed by the same manufacturer document, both use the same evaporating temperature of 7.2 C and the same condensing temperature of 54.4 C, and both use the same subcooling of 8.3 K. They part company on superheat alone, at 27.8 K against 11.1 K. A capacity figure quoted without its superheat basis is therefore ambiguous within a single catalogue, and the ambiguity is not small, because superheat changes the suction gas density and therefore the mass flow the compressor can move.

For this guide the basis is resolved: the series table that carries the TNB rows is followed immediately by the conditions note that uses superheat 27.8 K, and the contents page identifies that set as the ASHRAE conditions. So the 9,880 W and 3,010 W pair is an ASHRAE condition pair.

The practical rule that follows is that any competing quotation for this displacement class should be asked for its rating basis before its numbers are compared. A figure taken at 11.1 K superheat is not the same measurement as a figure taken at 27.8 K, even though both are printed by the same manufacturer for the same 306 displacement.

Which applications does the TNB306FPPMC suit?

The two sources describe application differently, and they are not equally useful. The reseller page prints one generic line, AC, drier, refrigeration, chiller, etc. The manufacturer catalogue places the entire family table under a heading that reads rotary inverter compressors for cooling application, and then publishes an envelope that is wide enough to cover heat pump duty as well. The table below grades each application against the envelope rather than against the reseller's line.

The distinction that matters most is between a wide envelope and published performance at the corners of that envelope. The family table says the compressor may operate with evaporating temperatures from -27 C to 26 C, and that says nothing about what capacity it delivers at -27 C. The only capacity data published for the 306 displacement is the single rated pair at 60 rps and a range from 4,362 W to 16,260 W over 15 to 120 rps, with no intermediate points. A project that spends its life at the cold end of the envelope needs a capacity table this guide does not have, and it should be requested from the supplier rather than extrapolated.

There is also a family table omission worth flagging for anyone reading the same catalogue. The series performance table covers five families, CBB, SBB, TBB, SNB and TNB, but the envelope table covers four, and TBB is absent from it. A TBB comparison therefore has performance data and no published envelope from this table, which is another reason not to read a figure across from a neighbouring family column.

How do you specify a TNB306FPPMC compressor for a project?

The sequence below follows the order in which the evidence in this guide becomes usable. Steps that depend on data no source publishes are marked as requiring a supplier request rather than being filled with an assumption.

1. Confirm the displacement requirement first. At 30.6 cm3/rev this code sits at the top of the TNB band, and the catalogue publishes no larger TNB step, so a project needing more swept volume has to leave the family.
2. Confirm the refrigerant from the model code rather than from a listing. The second character N is defined as R410A by the manufacturer key, and the catalogue contents page independently groups the TNB family under R410A Inverter.
3. Take the rated pair as 9,880 W capacity at 3,010 W input, and record that it is an ASHRAE condition pair with superheat 27.8 K. If a competing figure is quoted on an ARI basis at 11.1 K superheat, it is a different measurement and must not be placed in the same table without a note.
4. Record the speed range as 15 to 120 rps and the rated speed as 60 rps. Capacity between those points is not published for this displacement, so a part load profile has to be requested rather than interpolated.
5. Do not write a supply voltage into the specification. No source publishes one for this series, and the reseller field that is labelled Voltage carries a drive description instead. Obtain the voltage from the supplier or from the drive datasheet before the specification is frozen.
6. Check the condensing limit against the application. The TNB family is limited to 4.16 MPa at 65 C, which is a pressure and temperature pair that must be respected together rather than read against the higher temperature limit printed for the R134a families.
7. Check the evaporating range of -27 C to 26 C against the application's actual operating point, and note that the range is an envelope rather than a performance statement.
8. Apply the discharged gas ceilings as duty specific values, 120 C for heat pump duty and 115 C for dehumidifier duty, and remember the catalogue's own qualifier that both depend on speed and operating area.
9. Budget for the mechanical envelope using the published figures: 16.0 kg weight, 870 cm3 oil charge, pipe stress limits of 3.44 kg/mm2 at start and stop and 1.77 kg/mm2 running, piping vibration below 0.8 mm, inclination below 5 degrees and an evacuation level of 133 Pa absolute.
10. Ask for the two documents this guide could not obtain, which are the specification sheet the catalogue refers to for supply voltage and any performance table between 60 rps and the envelope corners Catalogue copy.

Two of those steps are the ones most often skipped. Step 3 is skipped when a quotation is compared against a rating taken on a different superheat basis, and step 5 is skipped when a voltage is read off a listing field that does not actually contain one.

Frequently asked questions about the Mitsubishi TNB306FPPMC

What is the displacement of the Mitsubishi TNB306FPPMC?

The displacement is 30.6 cm3/rev. It is read from the three-digit field of the model code, 306 divided by ten, and the rule was verified against six codes across three families including both published TNB points at 22.0 and 30.6 cm3/rev. The figure is also printed directly by the reseller page and by both catalogue rows at the 306 displacement Catalogue copy.

What refrigerant does the TNB306FPPMC use?

R410A. The second character of the model code is N, which the manufacturer key defines as R410A, and the catalogue contents page groups the whole TNB family under R410A Inverter alongside SNB. The refrigerant is a near-azeotropic blend rather than a single substance, which is why blended refrigerant charging practice applies ASHRAE 34 refrigerant designations.

What are the rated capacity and power input of the TNB306FPPMC?

The rated pair printed by both the manufacturer catalogue at the 306 displacement and the reseller page for this exact code is 9,880 W cooling capacity at 3,010 W power input, giving a coefficient of performance of 3.28. The capacity range over the full speed band is 4,362 W to 16,260 W. The rating conditions are ASHRAE, with evaporating 7.2 C, condensing 54.4 C, superheat 27.8 K and subcooling 8.3 K TNB306FPPMC.

Why does the reseller page show two different power input figures?

Because the page's five line summary list was populated from the 22 cm3/rev model data while its Product Details table carries the 306 block. The summary list prints 2,150 W input against 23,679 BTU/h, which are the numbers on the reseller's own 22 cm3/rev pages, where the capacity is 6,940 W at 2,150 W input and 23,679 BTU/h. The Product Details table prints 3,010 W against 9,880 W and 33,711 BTU/h, which is the 306 pair corroborated by the catalogue TNB220FLHMC.

What supply voltage does the TNB306FPPMC use?

No supply voltage is published for this series by any source consulted. The manufacturer catalogue prints per row voltages for its fixed speed rotary ranges and then, for the inverter twin rotary series, prints a sentence instead of a number, referring the reader to the specification. The reseller page carries a field labelled Voltage whose value is the phrase INVERTER Compressor. A specification should therefore obtain the voltage from the supplier or the drive datasheet MGC inverter range.

Is the TNB306FPPMC a twin rotary compressor?

Yes. The manufacturer catalogue classifies TNB as a twin rotary inverter, BLDC, in a four family table that also covers CBB, SBB and SNB, and the family's displacement band of 22.0 to 30.6 cm3/rev is the largest of the four. The third character of the code, B, is defined by the manufacturer key as BLDC-Cooling, which is the special series designation for these models Catalogue copy.

What is the maximum condensing pressure of the TNB306FPPMC?

The TNB family limit is 4.16 MPa at a condensing temperature of 65 C. That pair belongs to the two R410A families, SNB and TNB, and must not be combined with the 81 C condensing temperature limit printed for the R134a families CBB and SBB, whose pressure limit is 2.60 MPa. The two families differ because of the refrigerant pressure temperature relationship Catalogue copy.

Can the TNB306FPPMC be used for low temperature refrigeration?

The published envelope reaches an evaporating temperature of -27 C with a compression ratio below 9, so the family is not restricted to comfort cooling. What is not published is any capacity figure at the cold end of that range for the 306 displacement: the only published points are the 60 rps rated pair and the 4,362 W to 16,260 W span over the speed band. A low temperature project needs a capacity table from the supplier at its actual operating point rather than an extrapolation Distributor page.

Sources and further reading

Every entry below was retrieved and confirmed reachable during this review. Entries that could not be reached are recorded separately and are not linked from the body.

Addresses checked and found unusable during this review, and therefore not linked anywhere in the body: the correctly spelled mitsubishi-rotary-compressor.html address on the reseller site, which resolves to a blank page; two guessed paths for a Guangzhou R410A product page; a compressor standard entry on the ISO site, which returns HTTP 403 to automated requests; and the original host address for the manufacturer catalogue, which no longer resolves, so the catalogue is cited through a third party mirror and identified as a manufacturer document.