Power Generating RTU

Every time I do research on a new HVAC technology I get excited, but at the same time I worry about the future of a refrigeration technician.  The bulk of my 4 years of schooling at SAIT was learning about refrigerant pressures, temperatures, condensers, evaporators and compressors. This new technology by the company BeCool could put guys like me out of work, especially ones that live in the southern hemisphere with high humidity and warm winters.

The new BeCool RTU doesn’t need refrigerant a condenser or an evaporator. It doesn’t need a compressor to move refrigerant or oil to operate. What it does have are three heat exchangers. HMX heat exchangers are cross-flow plate type exchangers. The first one is used to dehumidify the air, second one is an indirect evaporative cooler for cooling the dry air and the third one which is a natural gas regenerator that produces electricity.

The RTU draws process air into the first heat exchanger. The first exchanger dehumidifies the air using a high concentration of a salt solution, liquid desiccant . The desiccant dehumidifies the air by absorbing the water out of the air.  This absorption process creates heat that is added to the entering air. This hot dry air now requires cooling.  Water and outdoor air are passed over the HMX heat exchanger to cool the air. The water, outdoor air and  process air are not mixed. The process air is now warm and dry but needs further cooling. The process air enters an HMX evaporative cooler. Water is added once again to the evaporative cooler to cool the warm dry air. The continual flow of strong desiccant solution and a water source are the keys to this system. To keep the strong desiccant regenerating, a natural gas fuel cell regenerator is required. This fuel cell enables desiccant regeneration and creates electricity from the burning of the natural gas. The only two by-products are heat and water which are reused.

If you have a cheap source for natural gas, live in a warm humid climate, need power generated, then this technology when it hits the market in 2017 might be worth looking into.

 

 

 

Ductwork of the future?

When you think you’ve seen it all, along comes a product that could change an industry. The new product is called Gatorduct, and it’s completely manufactured from a type of cardboard called Tri-Wall. This cardboard is coated with a special Gatorskin which is fire retardant, moisture resistant and water repellent. The cardboard surface can be coloured and have graphics printed on it. The product is 80% lighter than sheet-metal, ships flat and is easy to assembly with nothing more than a jigsaw to cut it. The biggest selling feature will obviously be the lower cost for the contractor in ease of install and product cost. The product is 100% recyclable and currently made from 21.5% recycled material. The company manufactures in the U.K but is currently seeking UL approval in North America. Once the product is approved, the next step will be looking for someone to distribute it.

RTU Hybrid

Everywhere you look people are talking about hybrid cars, hybrid classrooms, hybrid diets and now a hybrid roof top unit or RTU. A company called Ice Energys have developed a hybrid cooling unit that works with a standard RTU. The RTU works as a standard cooling unit during non peak electrical periods of the day and the “Ice Bear” unit works with it during the peak electrical periods of the day. The RTU unit has an extra cooling coil added to it for the “Ice Bear”. At night the “Ice Bear” compressor starts and freezes the unit much like a giant ice cube tray. When the ice section is frozen solid, the compressor turns off. In the afternoon during peak electricity periods, a pump turns on inside the “Ice Bear” and the compressor in the RTU unit turns off. The pump moves cold refrigerant over to the extra cooling coil inside the RTU and provides cooling until the ice is completely depleted from the “Ice Bear”. At this point in time, the RTU compressor will start again if cooling is still required. Watch this YouTube video, Thermal energy storage to see the unit in operation.

While this isn’t a new idea, it certainly is a new product. I worked on a similar system on a high rise in downtown Calgary. The three chillers in the building would only run once the tanks of frozen ice had been depleted. At night, one or two chillers would run until the tanks were frozen and then shut off. In the morning the building automation system would have a cooling demand call and would start the  building pumps. The pumps would circulate water through the tanks cooling the water off to be delivered to cooling fan coils. When a certain percentage of ice was depleted from the tanks, one of the chillers would start, when a second set percentage of ice was depleted a second chiller would start and the same for the third chiller.

This is a fantastic idea but is unlikely to gain any traction in Alberta unless energy companies start charging different electricity rates for different times of the day. If we switch to the way other provinces providers charge for Time-Of-Use, such as hydro one in Ontario currently does, this could be an affordable option.

 

Geofence, what type of a fence is it?

Smartphones, smart-TV’s, smart cars and now even thermostats are all smart technologies. The days of thermostats only maintaining one temperature are long gone. We want thermostats to not only help us maintain our room humidity and temperature, we also want them to maintain different temperatures when we are home and away.  I started reading about all the new Wi-Fi thermostats available to the homeowner and realized that the choice isn’t just Honeywell or White Rogers anymore, it’s ecobee, Nest, Venstar,  or Sensi. There are many more but these are the big names currently in the market.

Two of the brands, Nest and Ecobee use sensors on the thermostat which can override the temperature settings when they sense movement. The thermostats adapt and learn your schedule and in theory will adjust your temperature up or down based on whether you are home or not.

Honeywell chose to not use sensors on their new models. They have added geofencing abilities to their thermostats.Geofence Instead of using sensors on the thermostat to determine if you are in the home or not, they use your cell phone to determine where you are. You can set a geofence distance away from your home in which you want the thermostat to change its settings. The thermostat knows that if I set my fence to 500′ and I’m 3 kms away, it will be in Away mode. It’s a brilliant idea since most of us carry our phones with us everywhere we go.

 

Polyethylene Refrigerant Piping

Say it isn’t so, plastic piping for refrigeration and air conditioning. Well I guess copper has officially become too expensive when refrigeration piping starts to switch to plastic. The company called Multi-flex has designed refrigerant piping up to 1  1/8″ that is light and almost zero coefficient of thermal expansion. The piping can be bent and is good from temperatures of -40ºF to 200ºF or ( -40ºC to 93.33ºC). Multi-flex pipe has a working pressure of 650 psig and a life span of 50 years. That shouldn’t be a problem since most equipment have a lifespan half of that. The company even offers a 25 year warranty. Multi-flex Pipe.

The pros seem to outweigh any negatives that I can come up with. The product is light, easy to handle, strong and has next to zero expansion issues. So is it the future of the HVAC/R industry? I’m not so sure. It’s going to be an easy sell to a contractor because it’s easy to use and quick to install.

Change isn’t easy to most, and this one will be even harder. As an HVAC/R mechanic, all I’ve ever worked with is copper. I trust it, I’m familiar with it and know it’s limitations. There’s something about lighting that acetylene torch that makes me feel like a refrigeration mechanic. Taking that away will help my hearing, but will likely take something away from that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling that I built that. Oh well, change will happen whether I like it or not, and this product from the outside looks to good to fail.

 

 

Google Glasses for HVAC

Google Glasses.When I think wearing glasses for work the first thing that comes to mind are my safety glasses or PPE. I recently read a story on an HVAC company in the United States that are using the glasses for the customer to be able to see what is wrong with their machine and what you intend to do as a service person to rectify their problem.  We as service people already use cell phones to take pictures or short videos for the customer but this allows us to do it hands free. The customer sees the issue immediately and can give you approvals right away. The other benefit as a service person is the technical help from a supervisor while you are working alone. It’s like having a journeyperson with you at all times. This technology may become the new PPE of the future.

Kawasaki’s Water Chiller

Global warming and ozone depletion have become synonymous with our trade. I think most people in the trade want to defend the trade and are excited for new technologies that make our industry look more appealing to the general public. Kawasaki, yes the same company that make motorcycles and jet-ski’s also make chillers. Their newest chiller will revolutionize the industry as we know it. Gone are the days of machines that run on HFC refrigerants. Kawasaki has come up with a completely green machine that utilizes the natural refrigerant, R-718, or as most people know it as, water.

The company has eliminated the need for HFC refrigerants by completely redesigning the centrifugal chiller and designing a unique compressor and some special components to operate with water. Kawasaki Water Chiller

Refrigerant loss to a roof top unit or (RTU) will usually be 5-10 lbs or an HFC, refrigerant losses to a centrifugal chiller can be 1000-2000 lbs. This technology reduces manufacture of HFC refrigerants and will reduce the loss of those same refrigerants. This is the type of technology that the industry had been waiting for since Willis Carrier first invented air conditioning in 1902.

Embraco Oil-Free Compressors

The HVAC industry has once again taken a giant step forward in developing technology that not only benefits the consumer for efficiency but also benefits our environment. Traditional compressors used in refrigeration and air conditioning require both refrigerant and oil for the system to operate properly. The compressor much like your car’s engine requires oil for lubrication of the pistons, crankshaft and other compressor components. The oil that was a requirement in all compressors is no longer required with Embraco’s new compressor.Embraco’s Oil-Free Compressor.

This new compressor is known as the Wisemotion compressor. This compressor not only saves the consumer on electricity consumption but is also considerably quieter than a traditional compressor and the harmful oil used in compressors is avoided. The internal components are coated in a material that enables a lubricity without the need for oils.