1. Field of Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and systems for providing mist cooling of air-conditioning units. More particularly, aspects of the current invention relate to methods and systems for providing mist cooling of air-conditioning units using rainwater and a naturally-powered water pump.
2. Description of Related Art
Air conditioners generally include an external condenser unit having a coil, wherein a refrigerant is circulated through the coil for heat exchange purposes. During operation, the coils are cooled by a fan that draws external air over the condenser coil. However, such systems sometimes suffer from airflow blockage and excessive rusting of the condenser coils. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,565 is directed to a fine spray mist formed in the airflow stream about twelve inches upstream or away from the condenser unit so as to cool the air being drawn into the condenser unit. The cooled air allows the fluid in the condensing unit to change state to a vapor state easier and faster.
Other systems apply a light water mist or spray to an inlet air supply to an air conditioner heat exchanger coil to reduce the energy required to provide cooling. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,162 is directed to providing a water supply controlling mechanism for misting/spraying devices used for water cooling of an air conditioning condenser unit. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0221440 is directed to prolonging the life of an air-conditioning unit by directing water onto the condenser coils of the air condenser. These systems, however, like the one described above with respect to the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,565, are mist cooling systems that generally use tap water, city water, or a high-pressure water source, which over time causes corrosion of the components of the air conditioner. In addition, the above mist cooling systems also use energy typically provided from the grid, which increases overall energy consumption. Accordingly, there is an unmet need in the art for methods and systems that are “green” and use natural and renewable sources of both water and energy, such as, e.g., rainwater and solar energy, without increasing power consumption from the power grid and/or using public water facilities.
In light of the above described problems and unmet needs as well as aspects of the current invention provide systems and methods for providing a mist cooling system that utilizes rain water as a source of mist, and that relies on a solar-powered or naturally-powered water pump to provide the rainwater to the mist generating device. For example, the rainwater may be stored in a storage facility located on an elevated portion of a structure, such as, e.g., the roof or other location, and may be provided to the mist generating device via the solar-powered, wind-powered, water-powered, or other pump. Accordingly, such mist cooling may reduce energy consumption in applications such as the cooling of data centers, surgery rooms, archives or other temperature sensitive facilities that consume large amounts of energy for cooling.
According to various example aspects of the current invention, solar panels, which may generate, e.g., an average power output of about 110 Watts to 130 Watts and up to 180 Watts, may be used to power one or more batteries that may be connected to a water pump to provide water to a mist generating device. The water may be rainwater and stored, for example, in a rainwater storage cistern or other similar storage system, and may be provided via a pump to a misting device. The rainwater storage cistern may be located, for example, on an elevated part of a dwelling or other structure, such as the roof. According to various aspects, the misting device may include a water line with a plurality of mist nozzles located within an appropriate distance from portions of an air-conditioning unit such as a fan coil unit and/or air conditioning compressor.
Among many advantages of such example aspects of the current invention, the use of rainwater decreases the danger of corroding or otherwise damaging the various parts of an air-conditioning unit or other device, which is generally observed when tap water, city water, or a pressurized water source is used for mist cooling. Corrosion or other damage to the air conditioning device is reduced because the various parts are generally designed to resist corrosion from rainwater, due to the fact that, e.g., an air-conditioning unit is designed to be exposed to the atmosphere and thus to be resistant to the effects of rainwater, and rainwater does not include many impurities, fluorides, and other corrosive agents, typically present in city water or tap water. In addition, the use of solar power to pump the rainwater to the mist cooling device decreases overall energy consumption and promotes an environmentally friendly mist cooling device.
Additional advantages and novel features of these aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or upon learning by practice of the invention.
Various example aspects of the systems and methods will be described in detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein:
These and other features and advantages are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description of various example aspects.
According to various aspects, the mist generating device 170 may include a plurality of mist nozzles or other mist-generating devices 175, and when the rainwater is provided to the mist generating device 170 from the rainwater storage facility 160 via the solar-powered pump 150 at, for example, low pressure, rainwater may be provided to one or more of the nozzles 175, and mist may be generated as a result. Accordingly, misty rainwater may be projected on portions of the air-conditioning unit 180. For example, the portions of the air-conditioning unit 180 being cooled by the mist generated by the mist generating device 170 may include the condenser coils of the air-conditioning unit 180. As a result, the evaporation of the fine mist upon contact with hot portions of the air-conditioning unit 180, or upon contact with hot portions of the condenser coils of the air-conditioning unit 180, for example, may generate a cooling effect that results in a decrease in temperature of portions of the air-conditioning unit 180, sometimes by up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and in lowering the input air on the hot portions of the air-conditioning unit 180.
According to various aspects, other parts of the air-conditioning unit 180 may also or alternatively be cooled by the mist generating device 170. For example, the amount of energy required to power the air-conditioning unit 180 may be reduced by up to 20%. According to various aspects, the mist nozzles 175 may be located at regular or irregular intervals along the length of the mist generating device 170, and the mist generating device 170 may be located at a constant or a varying distance from the air-conditioning unit 180. For example, several mist nozzles 175 may be placed at about twelve (12) inch intervals along the length of the mist generating device 170, and the mist generating device 170 may be located at a distance of about sixteen (16) inches from the air-conditioning unit 180, although the distance may vary in order to obtain an optimal coverage of, for example, the coils of the air-conditioning unit 180. In addition, while
According to various aspects, the mist generating device 170 may include a longitudinally oriented cylindrically-shaped portion on which the mist nozzles 175 are placed. For example, the mist generating device 170 may include a PVC cylinder with a size of about 0.5 inches in diameter. It should be noted that the diameter of the PVC cylinder may be larger or smaller than 0.5 inches, and that the mist nozzles 175 may be located at regular intervals larger or smaller than 12 inches. The mist nozzles 175 may also be located at irregular intervals of varying distances.
According to various aspects, when the water pump is powered by energy provided by the solar panels at S130 for example, a mist cooling system may be activated by providing rainwater from the rainwater storage facility to the mist generating device via the water pump at S140. As a result, a device such as an air conditioning device or other device having a tendency to heat up, may be mist-cooled by rainwater. According to various aspects, the evaporation of the fine mist at the contact of hot portions of the air-conditioning unit generates a cooling effect that results in a decrease in temperature of the portions of the air-conditioning unit, sometimes by up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, for example, and in lowering the input air on the hot portions. For example, the amount of energy required to power the air-conditioning unit may be reduced by up to 20%. Among many advantages of aspects of the current invention, mist cooling of the device at S140 may be performed in an environmentally friendly manner, with no additional energy cost to power the water pump, due, for example, to the use of solar energy or other natural energy. Additional advantages of aspects of the current invention include a decrease in the typical corrosive effect on coils and/or other parts of an air-conditioning unit or other device generally observed when tap water, city water, or a high-pressure water source is used for mist cooling. The corrosive effect may be decreased because various parts of the air-conditioning unit are generally designed to resist rainwater exposure because an air-conditioning unit is typically exposed to the atmosphere and thus to be resistant to the effects of rainwater, which does not include many of the impurities, fluorides, and other corrosive agents typically present in city or tap water.
According to various aspects, the misting operation may be controlled via a timer, for example, to activate the water pump within predefined periods of time in order to maximize efficiency of the power output of the solar panels and to coordinate the misting operation with times of high energy consumption of the air-conditioning unit. For example, the misting operation may be scheduled to operate between 11 am and 3 pm, and these times may vary depending on the season, for example, which may both correspond to a peak of electricity produced by the solar panels and a peak of energy consumption by the air-conditioning unit.
According to various aspects, the above systems and methods may be operated and controlled via computer hardware as described below.
Computer system 900 includes one or more processors, such as processor 904. The processor 904 is connected to a communication infrastructure 906 (e.g., a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network). Various software aspects are described in terms of this example computer system. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement aspects of the invention using other computer systems and/or architectures.
Computer system 900 may include a display interface 902 that forwards graphics, text, and other data from the communication infrastructure 906 (or from a frame buffer not shown) for display on a display unit 930. Computer system 900 also includes a main memory 908, preferably random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 910. The secondary memory 910 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 912 and/or a removable storage drive 914, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drive 914 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 918 in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit 918, represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc., which is read by and written to removable storage drive 914. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit 918 includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data.
In alternative aspects, secondary memory 910 may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system 900. Such devices may include, for example, a removable storage unit 922 and an interface 920. Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) and associated socket, and other removable storage units 922 and interfaces 920, which allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit 922 to computer system 900.
Computer system 900 may also include a communications interface 924. Communications interface 924 allows software and data to be transferred between computer system 900 and external devices. Examples of communications interface 924 may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface 924 are in the form of signals 928, which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by communications interface 924. These signals 928 are provided to communications interface 924 via a communications path (e.g., channel) 926. This path 926 carries signals 928 and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio frequency (RF) link and/or other communications channels. In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” are used to refer generally to media such as a removable storage drive 980, a hard disk installed in hard disk drive 970, and signals 928. These computer program products provide software to the computer system 900. Aspects of the invention are directed to such computer program products.
Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in main memory 908 and/or secondary memory 910. Computer programs may also be received via communications interface 924. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system 900 to perform various features in accordance with aspects of the present invention, as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor 910 to perform such features. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 900.
In variations where aspects of the invention are implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system 900 using removable storage drive 914, hard drive 912, or communications interface 920. The control logic (software), when executed by the processor 904, causes the processor 904 to perform the functions in accordance with aspects of the invention as described herein. In another variation, aspects are implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s).
In yet another example variation, aspects of the invention are implemented using a combination of both hardware and software.
While aspects of this invention have been described in conjunction with the example features outlined above, various alternatives, modifications, variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents, whether known or that are or may be presently unforeseen, may become apparent to those having at least ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the example aspects of the invention, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and thereof. Therefore, aspects of the invention are intended to embrace all known or later-developed alternatives, modifications, variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents.
The current application claims priority from U.S. Patent Application No. 61/638,271, filed on Apr. 25, 2012, and titled “Methods and Systems for Solar-powered Rainwater Mist Cooling,” which his incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61638271 | Apr 2012 | US |