SBIR Phase I: Aerosol-Assisted Water-Vapor Air Conditioner

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在利用气溶胶技术解决小型空调系统中的传热问题，从而使水能够在家用和汽车应用的小型机组中用作制冷剂。基于水的空调系统必须在真空下运行，因此引起了空气泄漏到系统中的担忧。此外，系统中水的存在与腐蚀的风险有关。此外，所提出的系统需要设计和开发专用压缩机。这些问题在本项目中得到解决，并提出了可行的解决方案。相关技术的进步现在使水基空调系统成为可能。该项目强调了利用为先进技术开发的新工具重新审视传统技术的重要性。第一阶段项目的预期成果是一个功能齐全的实验室原型水基空调系统，容量为0.25吨。第一阶段项目的成功将使第二阶段项目的家用和汽车应用领域原型的开发成为可能。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括所有空调应用;特别是新建住宅和新汽车市场。这两项业务的美国国内市场为50亿美元/年，在全球范围内可能是这个市场的10倍。年收入预期超过1亿美元。除了提供重要的商业机会外，拟议的产品将通过减少使用现有的制冷剂对环境产生积极影响，这些制冷剂在释放到大气中时具有很高的全球变暖潜力。现有制冷剂的生产涉及多个步骤，首先是从自然环境中提取甲烷和氯化钠等化学物质。传统制冷剂生产中的各个步骤通常是能源密集型的，并产生危险废物。另一方面，在预期的全球市场中，水是丰富的，并且其净化是相对简单的过程。因此，所提出的方法将实现一种新的、实质性的和可持续的技术。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at utilizing aerosol technology to solve heat transfer problems in small-scale air conditioning systems, thus enabling the use of water as a refrigerant in small-scale units for domestic and automobile applications. A water-based air conditioning system must operate under vacuum, thus raising concerns of air leaking into the system. Also, the presence of water in a system is associated with the risk of corrosion. Further, the proposed system requires design and development of a special compressor. These issues are addressed in this project and viable solutions are proposed. Advancements in the pertinent technologies are now enabling realization of water-based air conditioning systems. This project underlines the importance of revisiting the conventional technologies with the new tools developed for the advanced technologies. The anticipated outcome of this Phase I project is a fully functional lab prototype of a water-based air conditioning system with a capacity of 0.25 ton. A successful Phase I project will enable development of field prototypes for domestic and automobile applications in the Phase II project.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project encompasses all air conditioning applications; in particular, the markets of newly built homes and new automobiles. The domestic US market for these two businesses is $5B/year, with potentially 10 times this market on a worldwide basis. Annual revenue expectations exceed $100 million. Besides offering a significant commercial opportunity, the proposed product will have a positive impact on the environment by reducing the use of existing refrigerants that have a high global warming potential, when released into the atmosphere. Production of the existing refrigerants involves multiple steps starting with extraction of chemicals like methane and sodium chloride from the natural environment. Various steps in production of the conventional refrigerants are often energy-intensive and produce hazardous waste. On the other hand, water is abundantly available in the anticipated global marketplace and its purification is a relatively straightforward process. Hence, the proposed approach will enable a new, substantial and sustainable technology.