Air Ambiator : Cost Effective Air-Conditioning

Description

An Indian company with long expertise in energy efficiency and eco friendly technologies has developed air ambiator, a low-cost, low energy intensive alternative to conventional air conditioning systems and is appropriate for most air-cooling applications. Unlike most compressor based air conditioning systems using CFCs, the ambiator does not use a compressor.

The ambiator available in 1 tonne modules, can be used in almost any industry where there is a need for either cooling or pressurisation or dust proofing a particular area. When compared with conventional air-conditioning, which can maintain a temperature of 24-24 degree C and 30-60% relative humidity (rH), the Ambiator can provide 26 degree C for 96% of the time throughtout the year and rH in the range of 60-70%.

The air ambiator works on the principle of two-stage evaporative cooling:

Stage 1: Sensible heat exchanger: The air from the atmosphere is sucked in through 20 micron dust fillers and is forced across a heat recuperater consisting of a cross-flow, wet plate plastic heat exchanger with an efficiency of 60%. This air is never in direct contact with the water passing through the other side of the heat exchanger. The wet side of the exchanger is covered with a hydrophilic material, which maintains a thin film of water that evaporates when the sensible heat of the water is transferred to the wet side. A portion of the cooled air picks up the evaporating water and exhausts it out. About 15-20% of the air is used up this way. The air that comes off the heat exchanger is significantly colder than the ambient air.

Stage 2: Adiabetic heat exchanger: The air coming out of the heat recuperater is passed through an evaporative cooling module, which consists of a durable cellulose media (a honeycomb) and an adiabetic exchanger constantly kept wet with a water drip. Part of the sensible heat in the air is converted into latent heat and the air is finally delivered into the conditioned space at a significantly lower temperature than the intake.

Areas of Application : Energy efficiency, Air-conditioning, Electrical

Advantages: The major advantage of air ambiator systems is its high power savings. The average energy efficiency ratio of the ambiator system varies from 30-50 BTUs (British Therrmal Units)/Watt for comfort cooling applications. This is equivalent to 80% power saving when compared with conventional air-conditioning systems.

Stage of Development: It is a commercialised technology.

Economic Data: Can be arranged on request

Transfer Forms: Know-how and Technology licensing outside India. In India Franchising Arrangement can be considered

Main Application: Energy

Contact:

Technology Bureau for Small Enterprises
APCTT Building, Qutub Institutional Area
P.O. Box - 4575
New Delhi - 110016, India