Rather than small silica beads, Blue Frontier’s cooling expertise depends on a salt answer that’s so concentrated, it could pull moisture from the air.
Here’s how Blue Frontier’s cooling system works: first, a stream of air passes by way of a channel and over a skinny layer of desiccant, which pulls moisture out of the air. Next, the now-dry air goes by way of an evaporative cooling step, which lowers the temperature of the air (mainly the identical manner sweat cools your pores and skin).
In the evaporative cooling step, the air is cut up into two streams. One runs previous a skinny layer of water, which absorbs vitality and drops the air’s temperature. That cooler, humid air is used to chill a steel floor, which in flip sucks warmth out of the opposite stream of still-dry air. The humid air will get funneled exterior, and the cool, dry air is blown into the constructing.
Evaporation is an environment friendly cooling technique, one which’s employed in low-cost gadgets referred to as air coolers (additionally known as swamp coolers or evaporative coolers), which may use 80% much less electrical energy than commonplace air conditioners. These gadgets normally add moisture to the air to chill it, which solely works when beginning with dry air, so their use is usually restricted to dry environments, just like the southwestern US.
By pairing evaporative cooling with desiccants, Blue Frontier’s system can work in nearly any local weather, Tilghman says. Its operations will be tweaked to deal with modifications within the climate or within the thermostat set level, altering the stability between cooling and dehumidifying, which might assist unlock additional effectivity features. The firm’s method ought to be capable to lower annual electrical energy use by a complete of between 50% and 80% in contrast with a standard air con system, relying on the surroundings, Tilghman says.
On skinny ice
Liquid desiccants are typically used at this time to dehumidify warehouses or factories that must hold strict controls on moisture within the air, similar to in pharmaceutical or electronics manufacturing. But they haven’t been broadly utilized in cooling partly as a result of they’re costly. One business commonplace, lithium chloride, has been topic to cost hikes and provide limitations due to demand for it in lithium-ion batteries. The supplies will also be corrosive. (Blue Frontier is utilizing a brand new desiccant that ought to handle these considerations, Tilghman says.)