New approach towards air conditioning

[begreen]

This is an interesting development technology. It uses desiccants to get around the short-comings of evaporative cooling in a humid environment. Pretty cool!

http://www.nrel.gov/features/20100611_ac.html

 

[BrotherBart]

OK. I have to join the TMonter club on this one. We paid the guys that invented it and they patent it and "license" it to industry? If the government paid the guys to invent this thing then it should be free for any manufacturer to just get after it to make'em.

I will take three to start.

 

[begreen]

We would prefer govt. programs to pay their own way, right? If programs like this help the lab to be self-funding, I say go for it. Less risk of getting cut later on unless we get another burn baby burn president.

 

[Jags]

Now THAT is thinking out of the box. Cool stuff.

I like the idea of self funding these labs, but, if a MFG. didn't have to pay for the patent use and make the new A/Cs cheaper and more accessible to the masses, that would be good too. If they have to buy the rights and the unit costs $1000 dollars - there is a market. If they DON'T have to buy the rights and the units are $500 there is a really big market and WIN for everyone and mother earth to boot.

 

[begreen]

We'll have to see if and when they get to market, but I would think these conditioners would be substantially less expensive than a conventional a/c unit. There are a lot less parts and no freon charge (with all the regs and fees that go with using it). Note that the license is negotiated and can be royalty free.
http://www.nrel.gov/technologytransfer/licensing_agreements.html

 

[Jags]

We'll have to see if and when they get to market, but I would think these conditioners would be substantially less expensive than a conventional a/c unit. There are a lot less parts and no freon charge (with all the regs and fees that go with using it).

Man - if they could make them in the 100-200 dollar range like the Chinese have the window shakers down to - I would replace mine in a heart beat. 15,000 btu of cooling capacity will cool my house easily.

 

[begreen]

Should be a lot quieter too. Not something we would use (52 outside right now :-/ ), but I'm glad to see it developing.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Now I'm no anti-government zealot by any means, but I have difficulty believing that the government has created some viable new technology that the manufacturer's haven't thought of. I'm guessing that there's some massive drawback that makes this inviable as a consumer product (replacement desiccant, membranes getting blocked, etc.)

 

[vvvv]

gizmo looks great! note that it provides outdoor ventilation also= any outdoor venting appliance [dryer,exhaust vents] will compensate by pulling in outdoor air, with gizmo installed that air would be dehumidified & cooled somewhat which will ease the AC load

 

[jharkin]

Sweet.

If these could scale down to car size I could image them using waste heat from the engine to power it. Probably worth a decent MPG savings in summer driving, not having to run that compressor.

 

[begreen]

Some modern cars no longer run the AC off the engine. I would expect this trend to continue. It's a necessity for an all electric car.