Modular Thermal Hub For Building Cooling, Heating and Water Heating
- Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology
A thermally activated hub for modular, scalable, distributed cooling and heating in buildings, which uses working fluids with zero Global Warming Potential (GWP), and can run on thermal energy from combustion, low-grade waste heat, or solar energy, was developed and demonstrated in this project. The concept capitalizes on several-fold enhancements in coupled heat and mass transfer possible in microscale passages to remove the primary hurdle that has hindered the implementation of thermally activated heat pumps for more than a century. Cooling capacities of hundreds of watts to tens of kilowatts are possible simply through scaling-up of component geometry. In this project, the proof-of-concept 300 W capacity unit was successfully scaled up to 3.5 kW cooling capacity, and packaged into a compact system. These systems can be utilized for a variety of cooling, heating, and air-conditioning applications in residential and commercial buildings. Additional current and potential market opportunities include CCHP applications (military and private sector mobile power generation, and small residential and light commercial stationary power systems (engine, microturbine and fuel cell driven)), solar cooling applications, distributed process waste heat recovery applications, and long-haul transport refrigeration.
- Research Organization:
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
- Contributing Organization:
- Stone Mountain Technologies. Inc.; ARS Solutions
- DOE Contract Number:
- AR0000135
- OSTI ID:
- 1135741
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-GTSTSL--0000135
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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