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

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力集中在空调(AC)的改装除湿系统的开发上，以减少潜在负荷并节省AC系统消耗的50%以上的能源。全球空调每年消耗的能源超过2300亿美元，占全球二氧化碳排放总量的4%以上。SBIR第一阶段项目的目标是为现有的交流基础设施开发一种插入式解决方案，以大幅降低交流系统的能源使用和运营成本。这些插入式除湿系统有可能每年为该行业节省1000亿美元的能源成本和高达10亿吨的二氧化碳排放。该项目开发的创新将有助于缓解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，确保全球获得负担得起的冷却系统。该项目的智力优势在于它利用了一种最初用于空间应用的液滴过滤方法。这种过滤方法实现了改装后的除湿器，该除湿器由液体除湿喷雾反应器提供动力，从而实现高速、高效的除湿。该项目中的除湿方法与目前市场上其他最先进的方法不同，这是因为液体除湿剂的部署方法使液体和气体之间能够实现高表面积接触。该过滤方法使用三种不同的过滤器长度刻度，以极低的压降(100帕斯卡)捕获近100%的细小液滴(30微米)，从而实现高效除湿。米级过滤器还额外制造了毫米级螺旋孔，能够以低压降惯性捕获细小液滴，这些液滴通过毛细管力被过滤器的微米级多孔介质吸收。这些过滤器使除湿器的运行效率是目前市场上其他方法的6-8倍，并具有非常高的处理速度，导致系统体积比其他技术减少20倍。这个第一阶段的项目将使除湿器从实验室规模的概念验证成熟为窗式空调机组的系统原型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.