Home » News » Energy efficiency , Data centers and infrastructure » US researchers make cooling breakthrough
US researchers make cooling breakthrough
US researchers make cooling breakthrough
By Robert Clark | Jul 15, 2010
The US government’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed a new cooling process that could cut energy consumption by as much as 90% compared with existing systems.
The new process, known as Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner (DEVap), uses a fresh and cost-effective combination of evaporative cooling, liquid desiccants and membranes.
“The idea is to revolutionize cooling, while removing millions of metric tonnes of carbon from the air,” said NREL mechanical engineer Eric Kozubal, one of the inventors of DEVap.
"We'd been working with membranes, evaporative coolers and desiccants. We saw an opportunity to combine them into a single device for a product with unique capabilities."
Evaporative coolers are a lower-cost alternative to A/C in dry climates that don't get too hot or humid, with water flowing over a mesh. However, this is not effective in humid climates.
