11. ADVANCED COOLING
TECHNOLOGY
In
Conventional air conditioners and refrigerators use
mechanical vapor compression cycles for cooling.
Although the refrigerant gas used today is now safe for the ozone layer,
per the Montreal Protocol, it is a strong greenhouse gas.
Per molecule, the refrigerant R-134a has 1300 times the direct Global
Warming Potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
Current vehicular air conditioners leak 10 to
70 grams of R134-a year; the European Union (EU) requires that new model cars
introduced in 2011 and all new cars by 2017 not use R134-a.
There are also large refrigerant losses from residential and commercial
air conditioners and refrigerators. Overall,
these and other halocarbons contribute about 0.34 W/m2 of radiative
forcing, as of 2000, which is nearly one-fourth of that due to CO2
alone, at 1.46 W/m2 (International Panel on Climate Change).
Given the large energy use for
cooling and the use of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants,
both of which contribute significantly to global warming, there is a strong need
for new cooling technologies that are more energy efficient than current
technologies and do not use refrigerants that contribute to global warming.
New technologies that might be successfully developed for advanced
cooling applications include (a) ThermoElectrics; (b) MagnetoCalorics; (c)
ElectroCalorics; and (d) ThermoTunneling. Important
contributory technologies also include advanced heat exchangers and advanced
dehumidification technologies. These
technologies should also be lighter, more compact, and more durable than
conventional refrigeration technologies. Use
of these technologies would also allow reconfiguration of system designs.
For example, vehicles cooling systems would no longer be constrained to
be positioned for belt-driven mechanical compression and could instead be placed
where most convenient. Some of these
technologies, particularly ThermoElectrics (TE), have long been used for cooling
applications, but commercially available units typically have efficiencies of
just one-fifth to one-tenth that of mechanical vapor compression cycles.
Further advances in TE materials offer the potential for raising these
efficiencies significantly above those of conventional mechanical systems.
In response to these needs, the Department of Energy is
seeking the development of advanced technologies for space cooling in buildings
and vehicles, and refrigeration for residential, commercial, and industrial
applications. Technologies of
interest will significantly reduce energy consumption compared to conventional
mechanical vapor compression cycles and will eliminate use of refrigerants that
provide a net contribution to global warming, while achieving costs at or below
current levels for comparable systems. Grant
applications must address the potential public benefits that the proposed
technology would provide and should include a review of the state-of-the-art for
both the technology application being targeted and the proposed technology.
The ease of implementation for the proposed technology is also important.
In Phase I, a preliminary design is
required and the refrigeration cells should be defined with the best
measurements available, including a description of the measurement methods used;
the measurements should be within the state of the art.
However, as such measurements can be extremely difficult, for example,
with nanoscale thermoelectrics, the grantee may devise a test to show the
cooling level with the power supplied. Grant
applications are sought only in the following subtopics:
a.
Buildings Refrigeration and Air Conditioning—Conventional air
conditioners, heat pumps and refrigerators, which collectively use 5.3 quads of
energy in the
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (charles.russomanno@hq.doe.gov)
b. Vehicular Air
Conditioning—Grant applications are sought for vehicular air conditioning
systems that must be able to withstand the
accelerations, vibrations and temperature excursions typically experienced in
vehicle use in the U.S. in addition to meeting the above characteristics
of improved energy efficiency and no use of refrigerants with net greenhouse gas
impacts. The
vehicles Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system should be able
to provide a nominal in cabin temperature of <70oF
with a worst case ambient temperature of 122oF. It
is strongly recommended that the respondent communicate with a vehicle OEM
(Original Equipment Manufacturer) for vehicle specific desired heating and
cooling loads, installation space and vehicle interface parameters. The grant
application should include a first approximation road map with the major
milestones from Preliminary Design to a Production Model of a Vehicular HVAC
System. This road map would form the basis for a follow on project.
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (charles.russomanno@hq.doe.gov)
c.
Industrial Process Refrigeration—Many techniques such as absorption
chillers have been introduced into industrial processing to capture waste heat
and use the heat for refrigeration or cooling.
Grant applications are sought for the development and application of new
materials to use industrial waste or secondary heat for refrigeration, as well
as the development of new materials for refrigeration cycles for application in
industry that will replace conventional refrigeration cycles based on ammonia
and other refrigerants as the working fluid.
“Industry” is taken here in the broadest sense, to cover
manufacturing, food processing, and space cooling in large commercial
applications. Grant applications are
also sought to develop materials for refrigeration applications that will
overcome current price/performance barriers to find wide spread application in
industry. It is recognized that
current barriers preventing solid-state materials from widespread application in
industrial refrigeration are of such a magnitude that commercialization of the
refrigeration technology for use in industry cannot be a near-term objective.
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (charles.russomanno@hq.doe.gov)
d.
Utility and Industrial Heat Exchangers—In electrical utilities and
in many process industries, improved heat transfer by heat exchangers represents
the greatest potential for improving process energy efficiency.
Grant applications are sought for improved heat exchanger efficiency
using improved heat exchanger design, materials of construction, or both.
Grant applications should characterize the target application, as well as
analyze the potential benefits of the proposed new heat exchanger technology.
Heat exchanger costs, ease of retrofit and installation, and maintenance
must be given careful consideration to make the innovation technology
commercially viable.
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (charles.russomanno@hq.doe.gov)
References:
1.
Fairbanks, J., “Thermoelectric
Generators for Near-Term Automotive Applications and Beyond,” Plenary
Presentation at European Thermoelectric Conference ’06, Cardiff, Wales,
2.
3.
Service, R. F., “Semiconductor Advance May Help Reclaim Energy
from ‘Lost’ Heat,” Science, 311:
1860,
4.
Liu, J., “Thermoelectric Coolers and Power Generators Using
Self-Assembled Ge Quantum Dot Superlattices,” University of California Energy
Institute,
5.
Dresselhaus, M. S., et al., “Investigation of Low-Dimensional
Thermoelectrics.” (Full report
available at: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~scronin/pubs/d888.pdf)
6.
Gschneider, K. A., Jr., et al., “Recent Developments in
MagnetoCaloric Materials,” Reports on
Progress in Physics, 68(6): 1479-1539, May 2005.
(Abstract and ordering information available at:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0034-4885/68/6/R04/)
7.
Zimm, C., et al., “Description and Performance of a Near-Room
Temperature Magnetic Refrigerator,” Advances
in Cryogenic Engineering, 43(Parts A and B), Kittel, P., ed., Plenum Press, New York, 1998. (ISSN: 0065-2482)
(ISBN: 0-306-45807-1)
8.
Mischenko, A. S., et al., “Giant Electrocaloric Effect in
Thin-Film PbZr0.95Ti 0.05O3,” Science,
V.311(5765): 1270-1271,
9.
Savin, M., et al., “Efficient Electronic Cooling in Heavily
Doped Silicon by Quasiparticle Tunneling,” Applied
Physics Letters, 79(10): 1471-1473,
10.
Hishinuma, Y., et al., “Measurements of Cooling by
Room-temperature Thermionic Emission Across a Nanometer Gap,” Journal
of Applied Physics, 94(7): 4690-4696,
11.
Saman, W. Y. and Alizadeh, S., “Modeling and Performance
Analysis of a Cross-Flow Type Plate Heat Exchanger for
Dehumidification/Cooling,” Solar Energy, 70(4): 361-372, 2001.
(Abstract and ordering information available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/.
Search by publication title and then bibliographic information, above.)
12.
Andrews, J. W., et al., “Independent Control of Sensible and
Latent Cooling,” Technical Report, September 1991. (Report
No. BNL-46807) (Full text available at:
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/basicsearch.jsp.
Search by title.)
13.
IPCC: Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, “Climate Change 2001: The
Scientific Basis,” pp. 7 and 47,
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