Page 8 - Climate Control News magazine February 2022

News
LEFT: Researchers are working to accelerate the development of new technologies from the lab to market.
THE NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY (NREL) IN THE UNITED STATES IS DEVELOPING A NEW APPROACH FOR LIQUID DESICCANT DEHUMIDIFICATION TO LOWER ENERGY USE BY HALF, COMPARED TO STATE-OF-THE-ART DESICCANT-WHEEL DEHUMIDIFIERS.
A new frontier in dehumidification
VACCINE STUDY
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have retrofitted a commercial refrigeration container designed to ensure COVID-19 vaccines remain at ultra-low temperatures during long transport and while locally stored.
Most COVID vaccines, depending on the manufacturer, are stored at minus 70 or 30 degrees Celsius.
Current transport methods use dry ice to maintain desired temperatures.
However, longer travel times, particularly to remote locations without supportive infrastructure, requires extended refrigeration.
In a study, researchers collaborated with Carrier and created a testbed using a lightweight aluminum container equipped with a refrigeration system, vaccine packages and optimal cargo layout and storage rack design that kept temperatures consistent and uniform throughout the container.
Simulation studies demonstrated this method can hold required temperatures twice as long.
IT ACCOMPLISHES THIS isothermally, without heating or cooling the dehumidified airstream.
NREL senior research engineer, Jason Woods, said it can also provide load flexibility for the grid by decoupling energy consumption from air dehumidification.
“Removing moisture from the air is energy in- tensive, and controlling humidity is an impor- tant part of keeping people comfortable in build- ings,” Woods said.
The NREL has received $US250,000 in funding from the US Department of Energy to undertake the research project in partner- ship with the Palo Alto Research Centre and Blue Frontier.
“Through the TCF funding, we will work to de-risk this technology by producing experi- mental data that can prove the energy perfor- mance of this technology. From there, we will be
able to engage with potential HVAC industry partners,” Woods said.
The funding has been made through the de- partment’s Technology Commercialisation Fund (TCF) which was established to accelerate emerging technologies from lab to market.
Another project that received $595,557 in funding is the development of an energy-storing efficient heating, ventilation and air condition- ing (HVAC) system.
Partnering with Blue Frontier, NREL senior mechanical engineer Eric Kozubal said the sys- tems can achieve 80 per cent energy savings by leveraging indirect evaporative air conditioning with separate humidity control.
The low-cost, high-density energy storage in the form of liquid desiccant and distilled water also enables more than 12 hours of low-power opera- tion and an all-electric system using NREL’s pat- ented heat-pump-driven desiccant regenerator.
World first IAQ as a service package
The service will be offered with a predictable, monthly financing model.
JOHNSON CONTROLS IS planning a global launch of OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a ser- vice later this month.
The new offering is the first dedicated “as- a-service" Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solution for buildings, delivering energy-efficient, turnkey clean air outcomes with an innova- tive financing model.
The company’s president of global services, Ganesh Ramaswamy, said the best healthy buildings strategy is a holistic one.
“This suite of offerings delivers the market’s most comprehensive portfolio of solutions, plus expert guidance, to help customers cut building
costs, raise productivity and exploit new revenue opportunities – all while delivering on their sus- tainability goals, resulting in healthy people, healthy places and a healthy planet,” he said.
OpenBlue Indoor Air Quality as a service pro- vides customers with a long-term proactive ap- proach to IAQ to meet ever changing health and safety compliance standards, while leveraging industry-leading OpenBlue technology to opti- mise IAQ and energy costs.
The offering includes five key components be- ginning with an assessment to set benchmarks and KPIs. It will be offered through an optional, predictable monthly financing model.
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