12
2016
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12
Dry-air cooling will also become a market trend.
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Just like eco-friendly energy sources such as solar and wind power, dry air can also serve as an energy source and become a new driving force for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. Zhang Xinli, chief engineer at Xinjiang Green Messenger Air Environment Technology Co., Ltd., has been researching this refrigeration technology for over 10 years. He explains that using cool water to cool down in daily life is common sense—and this is actually a basic application of the principle of evaporative cooling. “As long as the ambient air temperature is more than 18°C higher than the evaporation temperature of water, the heat from the surrounding air can be cooled down through water evaporation.” He also noted that this dry-air-based refrigeration air-conditioning system is now being used in sports venues across Xinjiang as well as at the Urumqi International Expo Center.
Just like environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar and wind power, dry air can also serve as an energy source and become a new driving force for refrigeration and air conditioning. Zhang Xinli, chief engineer at Xinjiang Green Messenger Air Environment Technology Co., Ltd., has been researching this refrigeration technology for over 10 years. He explains that using cool water to cool down in daily life is common sense—and this is actually a basic application of the principle of evaporative cooling. “As long as the ambient air temperature is more than 18°C higher than the evaporation temperature of water, the evaporation of water can cool down the hot air in the surrounding environment.”
He also noted that this dry-air-based cooling air-conditioning system has now been deployed in approximately 1 million square meters of public buildings, including various sports venues in Xinjiang and the Urumqi International Expo Center.
Data from the test site show that dry air with a temperature of around 34℃ at the inlet, after undergoing three heat exchanges with water at room temperature, drops to about 14℃ at the outlet—a process that takes less than two minutes.
80% energy saving
The working principle of dry-air-based air conditioners is that dry air can hold more moisture. Using tap water as the refrigerant, the dry air provides the cooling power for the air conditioner as it absorbs moisture and transitions from dry to wet. Meanwhile, as water changes from a liquid to a gaseous state, it absorbs heat, thereby achieving a cooling effect. Regional restrictions apply.
Using dry air as a refrigerant is the biggest advantage of dry-air-based air conditioners, yet this very feature also poses the greatest obstacle to their widespread adoption. In the relatively humid southern regions, these air conditioners are virtually unusable; even in Beijing, where the air is comparatively drier, they have yet to gain significant traction.
Zhang Xinli explained that, compared to conventional central air-conditioning systems, dry-air energy-based cooling air conditioners do not use fluorocarbons or other chemical refrigerants. The key hardware components of this air-conditioning system include dry-condition fan coil units and independent fresh-air conditioning systems. Its core technologies are the indirect evaporative chiller unit and the multi-stage evaporative fresh-air conditioning unit. These units take dry outdoor air, humidify it, remove dust, filter it, and cool it before delivering it into indoor spaces. This creates an internal-external air circulation loop that not only effectively cools the environment but also completely eliminates indoor air pollution.
“Air-source cooling air conditioners can achieve an overall energy-saving rate of 80%,” said Zhang Xinli. As we all know, whether powered by electricity or thermal energy, air conditioners are major energy consumers. “However, dry air is an environmentally friendly energy source, and the power consumption of equipment operating on dry air is only 20% of that of conventional air conditioners,” he explained. He added that if the monthly operating cost of a typical air conditioner is 100 yuan, the operating cost of an air-source cooling air conditioner using dry air would be just 20 yuan.
As for the price of dry-air-based cooling air conditioners, Yu Xiangdong, Sales Manager at Xinjiang Green Messenger Air Environment Technology Co., Ltd., said: “The initial investment required is about 10% lower than that of conventional central air-conditioning systems.” Taking an ordinary office building as an example, the installation cost for traditional central air-conditioning equipment ranges from 220 to 250 yuan per square meter, whereas the dry-air-based cooling air conditioner costs around 220 yuan per square meter. “Moreover,” he added, “since the unit equipment for dry-air-based cooling air conditioners can be placed on the roof of a building, it eliminates the need for the several hundred square meters of machine room space typically required by conventional central air-conditioning systems.”
“It’s only suitable for arid regions in the northwest.” As the inventor of indirect evaporative chiller units, Jiang Yi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at Tsinghua University, doesn’t shy away from pointing out the shortcomings of dry-air-based cooling and air-conditioning systems. He also noted that currently, this product can only be applied to large-scale public buildings and office complexes—mainly because “it’s simply too big,” making it difficult to install in residential homes in the same way traditional air conditioners are installed.
Zhang Xinli also stated that introducing this technology into residential buildings would still require technical improvements to the products and equipment, though it’s not entirely impossible. Whether Beijing can adopt this type of air conditioner remains to be seen—mainly because “Beijing’s air isn’t dry enough yet,” since the air conditioner’s cooling performance improves as the humidity in the air decreases.
Jiang Yi, who is attending the 22nd International Congress of Refrigeration in Beijing, said that at the conference he would be introducing air-source heat pump cooling air conditioners to the world for the first time. “To go global, this technology isn’t limited to specific regions—it can be widely applied in places like the Middle East, central United States, and Australia,” he noted.
However, the domestic market for dry-air-based cooling air conditioners is still in its “infancy.” Xu Xiangdong said that although their company has been expanding production every year to meet the demand-driven market conditions, it will still take time before dry-air-based cooling air conditioners can rapidly and massively capture the relevant markets, which are currently limited by geography.
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