New materials improve solar air conditioning

Engineers from Warwick University will be helping a team at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) develop materials for adsorption chillers, which are used for converting collected solar heat into cool air.

The project will focus specifically on developing novel desiccant materials for adsorbing water vapour.

Once developed the material will be coated onto a rotating part of the solar air-conditioning device, known simply as ‘the wheel’.

Bob Critoph, a professor at Warwick’s school of engineering, said most of the work will be conducted at CSIRO, where the technology will be patented. It is later hoped the technology will contribute to the development of new higher-efficiency solar air-conditioning system with mass-market potential for commercial buildings. 

‘At the moment desiccant rotors are expensive bits of kit so if you could get a lower capital cost and efficient desiccant material onto this wheel that could increase its market potential,’ he said.

Dr Stephen White, who is leading the research at CSIRO, declined to give details about the technology being developed because patents have yet to be granted, but his research facility’s website gives some indication of how it will work.