by jbs062910 a3 — July 5, 2010—The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has invented an air conditioning process that it says has the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today’s top-of-the-line units. It combines membranes, evaporative cooling and liquid desiccants in a way that has reportedly never been done before in the centuries-old science of removing heat from the air.
The dessicants NREL uses are syrupy liquids—highly concentrated aqueous salt solutions of lithium chloride or calcium chloride—rather than the familiar pebble-sized handfuls that come with new shoes. NREL says these eco-friendly salt solutions eliminate the worry of the climate-harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) that are currently used.
Because of the complexity of desiccant cooling systems, they have traditionally only been used in industrial drying processes, explains NREL. Inventing a device simple enough for easy installation and maintenance is what has impaired desiccant cooling from entering into commercial and residential cooling markets.
To solve that problem, the NREL device uses thin membranes that simplify the process of integrating air flow, desiccants, and evaporative cooling. These result in an air conditioning system that reportedly provides superior comfort and humidity control. NREL will be working on making the device smaller and simpler, and perfecting the heat transfer to make DEVap more cost effective, and will eventually license the technology to industry.
For more information, see the NREL Web site.
