posted by admin on Mar 30
A new air-conditioning system is on the scene that could save you a lot of money!
Unlike the standard air-conditioning systems that we find in workplaces and schools all over, this one is unique – and it turns out that it works on less energy and distributes both warm and cold air more efficiently too.
And if that wasn’t great enough on it’s own – it’s also made of eco friendly materials that can be composted and looks very stylish too!
What Is Cool Phase?
Well, using the description from their own website; Cool Phase is ‘an extremely low energy, intelligent passive cooling and heat recovery system for use within Commercial, Academic and Health Care environments.’
Working with the Carbon Trust and BASF Ltd in the UK, they have designed a latent heat mechanism that can deliver and store enough natural energy to heat or cool a large environment without using up the excessive power that a standard AC unit uses.
The units are wood-finish, and stand on the floor of the environment backed up to an exterior wall, and the fresh air is taken in to the main unit through circular vents. So basically, they will look no different in your classroom or office than any other radiators or AC units – except is doesn’t contain those potentially hazardous refrigerants that they do within it’s structure!
The Technical Bit:
So, if these units don’t contain a coolant and don’t use much energy – how do they work?
Basically, their key ingredient is wax. Of course it is a special type of wax called Phase Change Material (PCM) and it is the change of state of this material (whether it melts of goes hard) that traps or releases the heat.
It’s thermal qualities are immense for it’s unit size and they quote that ‘a 1cm thick layer of PCM will have the same thermal mass as a 15cm layer of concrete.’
These tiny coated particles of PCM are floating in a liquid environment to which they transfer their latent energy, and it is this ‘slurry’ that is passed around the system to balance the ambient room temperature.
And There’s More:
This system however, is not 100% the same as what we have come to believe an AC unit should be. Air conditioning has now become almost synonymous with ‘blows out cold air’, rather than maintains a constant healthy ventilated space.
But Cool Phase will offer this ‘conditioning’ as part of the whole system. Levels of carbon dioxide in the air can affect human concentration – the higher the levels (ppm) in the circulating air as you would find in a stuffy office space, the lower the levels of concentration.
What these units are able to do is regulate the rooms CO2 content and therefore actually fulfilling the requirement of ‘air conditioning’.
This obviously may well drop the temperature slightly as it will trigger a huge amount of fresh air to begin circulating in that environment to dissipate the carbon dioxide and send in some good old fresh air to wake everyone back up and get those minds active again!
So, if you need to install a new AC system, why not take a look at this new alternative and compare costs and applications – and your carbon footprint too!
