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BEETIT Project: The 14 projects that comprise ARPA-E’s BEETIT Project, short for “Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices,” are developing new approaches and technologies for building cooling equipment and air conditioners. These projects aim to drastically improve building energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) at a cost comparable to current technologies.
BEETIT Project: Astronautics is developing an air conditioning system that relies on magnetic fields. Typical air conditioners use vapor compression to cool air. Vapor compression uses a liquid refrigerant to circulate within the air conditioner, absorb the heat, and pump the heat out into the external environment. Astronautics’ design uses a novel property of certain materials, called “magnetocaloric materials”, to achieve the same result as liquid refrigerants. These magnetocaloric materials essentially heat up when placed within a magnetic field and cool down when removed, effectively pumping heat out from a cooler to warmer environment. In addition, magnetic refrigeration uses no ozone-depleting gases and is safer to use than conventional air conditioners which are prone to leaks.
BEETIT Project: Notre Dame is developing an air-conditioning system with a new ionic liquid and CO2 as the working fluid. Synthetic refrigerants used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems are potent GHGs and can trap 1,000 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 alone—making CO2 an attractive alternative for synthetic refrigerants in cooling systems. However, operating cooling systems with pure CO2 requires prohibitively high pressures and expensive hardware. Notre Dame is creating a new fluid made of CO2 and ionic liquid that enables the use of CO2 at low pressures and requires minimal changes to existing hardware and production lines. This new fluid also produces no harmful emissions and can improve the efficiency of air conditioning systems— enabling new use of CO2 as a refrigerant in cooling systems.
BEETIT Project: Battelle is developing a new air conditioning system that uses a cascade reverse osmosis (RO)-based absorption cycle. Analyses show that this new cycle can be as much as 60% more efficient than vapor compression, which is used in 90% of air conditioners. Traditional vapor-compression systems use polluting liquids for a cooling effect. Absorption cycles use benign refrigerants such as water, which is absorbed in a salt solution and pumped as liquid—replacing compression of vapor. The refrigerant is subsequently separated from absorbing salt using heat for re-use in the cooling cycle. Battelle is replacing thermal separation of refrigerant with a more efficient reverse osmosis process. Research has shown that the cycle is possible, but further investment will be needed to reduce the number of cascade reverse osmosis stages and therefore cost.
BEETIT Project: UCLA is developing a novel solid-state cooling technology to translate a recent scientific discovery of the so-called giant electrocaloric effect into commercially viable compact cooling systems. Traditional air conditioners use noisy, vapor compression systems that include a polluting liquid refrigerant to circulate within the air conditioner, absorb heat, and pump the heat out into the environment. Electrocaloric materials achieve the same result by heating up when placed within an electric field and cooling down when removed—effectively pumping heat out from a cooler to warmer environment. This electrocaloric-based solid state cooling system is quiet and does not use liquid refrigerants. The innovation includes developing nano-structured materials and reliable interfaces for heat exchange. With these innovations and advances in micro/nano-scale manufacturing technologies pioneered by semiconductor companies, UCLA is aiming to extend the performance/reliability of the cooling module.
BEETIT Project: UMD is developing an energy-efficient cooling system that eliminates the need for synthetic refrigerants that harm the environment. More than 90% of the cooling and refrigeration systems in the U.S. today use vapor compression systems which rely on liquid to vapor phase transformation of synthetic refrigerants to absorb or release heat. Thermoelastic cooling systems, however, use a solid-state material—an elastic shape memory metal alloy—as a refrigerant and a solid to solid phase transformation to absorb or release heat. UMD is developing and testing shape memory alloys and a cooling device that alternately absorbs or creates heat in much the same way as a vapor compression system, but with significantly less energy and a smaller operational footprint.
BEETIT Project: A2 is developing a building moisture and heat exchange technology that leverages a new material and design to create healthy buildings with lower energy use. Commercial building owners/operators are demanding buildings with greater energy efficiency and healthier indoor environments. A2 is developing a membrane-based heat and moisture exchanger that controls humidity by transferring the water vapor in the incoming fresh air to the drier air leaving the building. Unlike conventional systems, A2 locates the heat and moisture exchanger within the depths of the building’s wall to slow down the air flow and increase the surface area that captures humidity, but with less fan power. The system’s integration into the wall reduces the size and demand on the air conditioning equipment and increases liable floor area flexibility.
BEETIT Project: Penn State is designing a freezer that substitutes the use of sound waves and environmentally benign refrigerant for synthetic refrigerants found in conventional freezers. Called a thermoacoustic chiller, the technology is based on the fact that the pressure oscillations in a sound wave result in temperature changes. Areas of higher pressure raise temperatures and areas of low pressure decrease temperatures. By carefully arranging a series of heat exchangers in a sound field, the chiller is able to isolate the hot and cold regions of the sound waves. Penn State’s chiller uses helium gas to replace synthetic refrigerants. Because helium does not burn, explode or combine with other chemicals, it is an environmentally-friendly alternative to other polluting refrigerants. Penn State is working to apply this technology on a large scale.
BEETIT Project: PNNL is incorporating significant improvements in materials that adsorb liquids or gases to design more efficient adsorption chillers. An adsorption chiller is a type of air conditioner that is powered by heat, solar or waste heat, or combustion of natural gas. Unlike typical chillers, this type has few moving parts and uses almost no electricity to operate. PNNL is designing adsorbent materials at the molecular level with at least 3 times higher refrigerant capacity and up to 20 times faster kinetics than adsorbents used in current chillers. By using the new adsorbent, PNNL is able to create a chiller that is significantly smaller, has twice the energy efficiency, and lower costs for materials and assembly time compared to conventional adsorption chillers.
BEETIT Project: Sheetak is developing a thermoelectric-based solid state cooling system to replace typical air conditioners that use vapor compression to cool air. With noisy mechanical components, vapor compression systems use a liquid refrigerant to circulate within the air conditioner, absorb heat, and pump the heat out into the external environment. With no noisy moving parts or polluting refrigerants, thermoelectric systems rely on an electrical current being passed through the junction of the two different conducting materials to change temperature. Using advanced semiconductor technology, Sheetak is improving solid state cooling systems by using proprietary thermoelectric materials along with other innovations to achieve significant energy efficiency. Sheetak’s new design displaces compressor-based technology; improves reliability; and decreases energy usage. Sheetak’s use of semiconductor manufacturing methods leads to less material use—facilitating cheaper production.
BEETIT Project: Georgia Tech is using innovative components and system design to develop a new type of absorption heat pump. Georgia Tech’s new heat pumps are energy efficient, use refrigerants that do not emit greenhouse gases, and can run on energy from combustion, waste heat, or solar energy. Georgia Tech is leveraging enhancements to heat and mass transfer technology possible in microscale passages and removing hurdles to the use of heat-activated heat pumps that have existed for more than a century. Use of microscale passages allows for miniaturization of systems that can be packed as monolithic full-system packages or discrete, distributed components enabling integration into a variety of residential and commercial buildings. Compared to conventional heat pumps, Georgia Tech’s design innovations will create an absorption heat pump that is much smaller, has higher energy efficiency, and can also be mass produced at a lower cost and assembly time.
BEETIT Project: UTRC is developing an air conditioning system that is optimized for use in warm and humid climates. UTRC’s air conditioning system integrates a liquid drying agent or desiccant and a traditional vapor compression system found in 90% of air conditioners. The drying agent reduces the humidity in the air before it is cooled, using less energy. The technology uses a membrane as a barrier between the air and the liquid salt stream allowing only water vapor to pass through and not the salt molecules. This solves an inherent problem with traditional liquid desiccant systems—carryover of the liquid drying agent into the conditioned air stream—which eliminates corrosion and health issues
BEETIT Project: ADMA Products is developing a foil-like membrane for air conditioners that efficiently removes moisture from humid air. ADMA Products’s metal foil-like membrane consists of a paper thin, porous metal sheet coated with a layer of water-loving molecules. This new membrane allows water vapor to permeate across the membrane at high fluxes and at the same time, blocks air penetration efficiently resulting in high selectivity. The high selectivity of the membrane translates to less energy use, while the high permeation fluxes result in a more compact device. The new materials and the flat foil-like nature of the membrane facilitate the mass production of a low-coast compact dehumidification device
BEETIT Project: UFL is improving a refrigeration system that uses low quality heat to provide the energy needed to drive cooling. This system, known as absorption refrigeration system (ARS), typically consists of large coils that transfer heat. Unfortunately, these large heat exchanger coils are responsible for bulkiness and high cost of ARS. UFL is using new materials as well as system design innovations to develop nanoengineered membranes to allow for enhanced heat exchange that reduces bulkiness. UFL’s design allows for compact, cheaper and more reliable use of ARS that use solar or waste heat.
BEETIT Project: Infinia is developing a compact air conditioner that uses an unconventional high efficient Stirling cycle system (vs. conventional vapor compression systems) to produce cool air that is energy efficient and does not rely on polluting refrigerants. The Stirling cycle system is a type of air conditioning system that uses a motor with a piston to remove heat to the outside atmosphere using a gas refrigerant. To date, Stirling systems have been expensive and have not had the right kind of heat exchanger to help cool air efficiently. Infinia is using chip cooling technology from the computer industry to make improvements to the heat exchanger and improve system performance. Infinia’s air conditioner uses helium gas as refrigerant, an environmentally benign gas that does not react with other chemicals and does not burn. Infinia’s improvements to the Stirling cycle system will enable the cost-effective mass production of high-efficiency air conditioners that use no polluting refrigerants.
A thermally activated absorption heat pump suitable for use in naval expeditionary Environmental Control Units, as well as residential space-conditioning, is developed. Waste heat characteristic of the exhaust stream from a diesel engine GenSet is used to drive an absorption cycle to provide cooling. The heat source is coupled to the heat pump using an intermediate fluid loop for flexible deployment. With minor modifications, the heat pump could also provide heating at high coefficients of performance, resulting in versatile functionality. This technology capitalizes on heat and mass transfer enhancement possible in microscale passages to provide a compact architecture for the components and the overall system. The working fluid pair with zero Global Warming Potential is contained within this assembly, reducing fluid inventories significantly over conventional systems. Quiet, reliable, long-life operation due to the absence of a compressor and the use of few moving parts are further critical distinguishing advantages. Modularity in cooling capacity has been demonstrated through scaling-up of component geometry and internal features and dimensions. The core technology was initially demonstrated with a proof-of-concept microscale absorption chiller measuring 200 × 200 × 34 mm and weighing 7 kg that delivered 300 W of cooling in laboratory tests. In the previous BEETIT project, the team made significant advances over the proof-of-concept. System and component designs with > 10× scale-up in capacity were developed, in a packaged unit capable of standalone operation with a semi-autonomous control system. A cooling capacity of 3.5 kW with a COP > 0.5 at an ambient temperature of 35°C was demonstrated for this natural gas-fired unit. Significant cost reductions in fabrication were achieved using low-cost brazing instead of diffusion bonding. In companion projects funded by the Southern Company and the Georgia Research Alliance, stamping and fluid forming techniques were investigated to fabricate microscale features instead of photochemical etching, thereby leading to significant cost reductions. In a follow-on effort funded by ARPA-E and NAVFAC, a 2.7 kW cooling unit was developed to provide cooling at a severe ambient condition of 51.7°C. The unit was driven directly by diesel engine exhaust heat. Innovative finned heat and mass exchangers for the ambient-coupled condenser and absorber were developed. In the present effort, a standalone, packaged and controllable 10.5 kW cooling capacity absorption chiller is developed. This demonstrates a 30× scale up from the proof-of-concept, thus validating the scalability of microchannel heat exchangers for absorption heat pumps. Autonomous operation algorithms demonstrated enhanced dynamic performance. The knowledge from previous projects was leveraged to develop novel component designs that further helped in miniaturizing the heat exchangers. All coupling fluids are hydronically coupled to aid flexible field deployment. The prototype unit provides design cooling capacity at high ambient temperature conditions of 44°C at COP > 0.6.
The third annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit was held in Washington D.C. in February, 2012. The event brought together key players from across the energy ecosystem - researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and government officials - to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of energy technologies. A few videos were selected for showing during the Summit to attendees. These "performer videos" highlight innovative research that is ongoing and related to the main topics of the Summit's sessions. Featured in this video are David Marcus, Founder of General Compression, and Eric Ingersoll, CEO of General Compression. Himanshu Pokharna, Vice President of Sheetak Uttam Ghoshal, President and CEO of Sheetak.