Page 10 - Climate Control News Magazine June-July 2020

News
Prepare HVAC systems for return to work
BUILDING OWNERS AND managers have been advised to prepare HVAC systems for the return of workers as the Federal Government lifts COVID-19 shutdown measures.
Before reopening after a period of shutdown, building heating and cooling systems should be thoroughly inspected and serviced to avoid health and safety risks such as legionella, air- borne mould and poor air quality, as well as damage to building plant and equipment.
Air Conditioning & Mechanical Contrac- tors' Association (AMCA) executive director, Sumit Oberoi, has warned that any period of shutdown can negatively impact the perfor- mance of heating, ventilation and cooling sys- tems (HVAC).
“Commercial and industrial buildings—in- cluding offices, retail, hospitality venues, ware- houses, universities and others—are usually de- signed for continuous operation. They rarely
LEFT: Cooling plant for city building.
BELOW: AMCA executive director, Sumit Oberoi.
shut down for longer than a few days over Easter or Christmas," Oberoi said.
“As a result, HVAC systems rely on continuous operation for optimal performance. They also need to be supported by regular service and maintenance.
“Understandably, many building owners and facility managers have sought to reduce opera- tional costs over recent weeks by shutting down or reducing the capacity of their heating, ventilation and cooling systems.”
As a result, Oberoi said routine service and maintenance activities that are essential to the system performance may
have been put-off.
“As we begin to pre- pare our workforce to re- turn to work, we also need to prepare our buildings. People must be going back to a safe and healthy work environ- ment,” he said.
Solar windows generate electricity
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS CLAIM two square metres of solar window will do the same job as a standard rooftop solar panel in the very near future.
Semi-transparent solar cells that can be incor- porated into window glass are a “game-changer” that could transform architecture, urban plan- ning and electricity generation, Australian scien- tists claim in a paper published in Nano Energy.
The researchers – led by Professor Jacek Jasie- niak from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exci- ton Science (Exciton Science) and Monash Uni- versity – have succeeded in producing next-gen perovskite solar cells that generate electricity while allowing light to pass through.
They are now investigating how the new tech- nology could be built into commercial products with Australian manufacturer, Viridian Glass.
This technology will transform windows into active power generators, potentially revolution- ising building design.
The idea of semi-transparent solar cells is not new, but previous designs have failed because they were expensive, unstable or inefficient.
Professor Jasieniak and colleagues from
Monash’s Materials Science and Engineering Department and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, used a different approach.
They used an organic semiconductor that can be made into a polymer and used it to replace a commonly used solar cell component (known as Spiro-OMeTAD), which shows very low stability because it develops an unhelpful watery coating. The substitute produced astonishing results.
“Rooftop solar has a conversion efficiency of between 15 and 20%,” Jacek said.
“The semi-transparent cells have a conversion efficiency of 17%, while still transmitting more than 10% of the incoming light, so they are right in the zone. It’s long been a dream to have win- dows that generate electricity, and now that looks possible.”
Co-author and CSIRO research scientist, Dr Anthony Chesman, said the team is now work- ing on scaling up the manufacturing process.
The first application is likely to be in multisto- rey buildings.
Large windows deployed in high-rise buildings are expen- sive to make. The additional cost of incorporating the semi-transparent solar cells into them will be marginal.
“But even with the extra spend, the building then gets its electricity free,” Professor Jasieniak said.
LEFT: The first application is likely to be in multistorey buildings.
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