SBIR Phase I: Retrofit Dehumidifiers to Enable Greater than 50% Air Conditioner Energy Savings Via Elimination of Latent Loads

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力集中在空调（AC）的改造制冷系统的开发上，以减少潜在负荷并节省AC系统消耗的50%以上的能源。空调每年在全球消耗超过2300亿美元的能源，占全球二氧化碳（CO2）排放总量的4%以上。该SBIR第一阶段项目的目标是为现有的AC基础设施开发一种插入式解决方案，以大幅降低AC系统的能源使用和运营成本。这些嵌入式制冷系统有可能为该行业每年节省1000亿美元的能源成本和高达10亿吨的二氧化碳排放量。该项目的创新将有助于减轻全球气候变化的影响，同时通过帮助大幅降低空调系统的运营成本，确保全球范围内获得负担得起的冷却系统。该项目的智力价值在于利用了最初为空间应用开创的液滴过滤方法。这种过滤方法能够改造由液体干燥剂喷雾反应器提供动力的除湿器，从而实现高速率、高效率的除湿。该项目中的除湿方法与当今市场上其他最先进的方法不同，因为采用了液体干燥剂部署方法，该方法能够实现液体和气体之间的高表面积接触。该过滤方法通过使用三种不同的过滤器长度尺度在非常低的压降（100帕斯卡）下捕获近100%的细液滴（30微米）来实现高效过滤。米级过滤器是用毫米级螺旋孔增材制造的，这些螺旋孔能够低压降惯性捕获细小液滴，这些液滴通过毛细管力被吸收在过滤器的微米级多孔介质中。这些过滤器使除湿器的运行效率比当今市场上的其他方法高6- 8倍，并且具有非常高的处理速率，与其他技术相比，系统体积减少了20倍。这个第一阶段的项目将成熟的除湿机从实验室规模的概念验证到一个系统原型的窗口规模的空调机组。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the development of retrofit dehumidification systems for air conditioners (AC) to reduce latent loads and save more than 50% of the energy consumed by AC systems. Air conditioners consume more than $230 billion in energy annually worldwide, accounting for more than 4% of total global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The goal of this SBIR Phase I project is to develop a drop-in solution for existing AC infrastructure to enable substantial reductions in energy use and operating costs for AC systems. These drop-in dehumidification systems have the potential to save the industry $100 billion in energy costs and up to 1 gigaton of CO2 emissions annually. The innovation developed in this project will help mitigate the effects of global climate change, while simultaneously ensuring access to affordable cooling systems globally by helping substantially reduce operating costs for AC systems.The intellectual merit of this project is in its utilization of a droplet filtration method, initially pioneered for space applications. This filtration method enables retrofit dehumidifiers that are powered by a liquid desiccant spray reactor that enables high-rate, high-efficiency dehumidification. The dehumidification approach in this project is differentiated from other state-of-the-art methods on the market today due to the method of liquid desiccant deployment, which enables high surface area contact between liquids and gasses. The filtration method enables high-efficiency dehumidification by capturing nearly 100% of fine droplets (30 micrometers) at very low pressure drop (100 Pascals) using three distinct filter length-scales. The meter-scale filters are additively manufactured with millimeter-scale helical pores that enable low-pressure-drop inertial capture of fine droplets, which are absorbed in the micrometer-scale porous medium of the filters via capillary forces. These filters enable dehumidifiers that operate 6-8x more efficiently than other methods on the market today and have very high process rates, resulting in a 20-fold reduction in system volume compared to other technologies. This Phase I project will mature the dehumidifiers from a lab-scale proof of concept to a system prototype for a window-scale AC unit.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.