Somewhat than small silica beads, Blue Frontier’s cooling know-how depends on a salt answer that’s so concentrated, it could actually pull moisture from the air.
Right here’s how Blue Frontier’s cooling system works: first, a stream of air passes by a channel and over a skinny layer of desiccant, which pulls moisture out of the air. Subsequent, the now-dry air goes by an evaporative cooling step, which lowers the temperature of the air (principally the identical means sweat cools your pores and skin).
Within 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 methodology, 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 just about any local weather, Tilghman says. Its operations will be tweaked to deal with adjustments within the climate or within the thermostat set level, altering the steadiness between cooling and dehumidifying, which might assist unlock additional effectivity positive factors. The corporate’s method ought to be capable of minimize annual electrical energy use by a complete of between 50% and 80% in contrast with a traditional air con system, relying on the atmosphere, Tilghman says.
On skinny ice
Liquid desiccants are generally used as we speak to dehumidify warehouses or factories that must maintain strict controls on moisture within the air, equivalent to in pharmaceutical or electronics manufacturing. However they haven’t been extensively utilized in cooling partly as a result of they’re costly. One trade 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 tackle these issues, Tilghman says.)