Image courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories, Creative Thermal Solutions, and BTO Peer Review.

Lead Performer: Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Partner: Creative Thermal Solutions, Urbana, IL
DOE Funding: $860,000
Cost Share: $86,000
Project Term: October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2016
Funding Opportunity: Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Incubator Technologies (BENEFIT) ‐ 2014 (FOA DE‐FOA‐0001027)

Project Objective

The purpose of this effort is to develop a vapor compression cycle architecture that can lead to an estimated 20% decrease in energy consumption in air conditioners (compared to SEER 14.6 units) with little or no delay in the payback period.  For this efficiency improvement, the radically different device architecture exploits heat transfer enhancements in both air and refrigerant flows in a rotating reference frame. To achieve this, two objectives must be met: (1) proving that the proposed device architecture functions as designed, with the predicted heat transfer enhancements, and (2) proving that the proposed device architecture can be fabricated cost-effectively. At the end of the project, a small scale (1 kW) prototype will be developed as a proof-of-concept.

Project Impact

Space heating and cooling comprises a significant portion of total energy consumption in residential and commercial sectors.  According to the Annual Energy Outlook (www.eia.gov), energy used for space heating and cooling amounts to 12 Quads, or 31% of total energy consumed in these sectors. The proposed technology can lead to an estimated 20% decrease in energy consumption in air conditioners and even greater savings when used as a heat pump in cold climates.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Tony Bouza
Lead Performer: Jeff Koplow, Sandia National Laboratories

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