118
An
Integrated Residential Heating, Cooling, Dehumidification, and Ventilation
System--Davis Energy Group, Inc., 123 C Street, Davis, CA
95616-4632; 530-753-1100, www.davisenergy.com
Mr.
David Springer, Principal Investigator,
Mr.
Mark Berman, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER83636
Amount:
$99,590
Inadequate
fresh air ventilation and poor humidity control are two of the biggest problems
in residential buildings. New homes
are being built more tightly and with better materials, resulting in less
natural ventilation, lower sensible cooling loads, and consequent higher latent
cooling loads. Conventional air
conditioning systems, even when combined with other systems, are not capable of
efficiently and effectively addressing these problems, and miss the opportunity
to reduce cooling load by ventilating with cooler outdoor air.
This project will develop an integrated heating-cooling system that
provides efficient dehumidification, fresh air ventilation, and ventilation
cooling at an affordable price. The
resulting product will largely utilize existing hardware, including manufactured
variable speed furnaces or air handlers combined with advanced digital controls,
to facilitate rapid commercialization. Phase
I will establish theoretical performance, verify component performance by
laboratory testing, identify available materials, and develop control
strategies. The goals of Phase I
will be to verify that a single evaporator coil can effectively be used for both
sensible cooling and dehumidification, to determine the feasibility of applying
a desuperheater coil to re-heat air for mild climate dehumidification, and to
identify preferred operating modes and control strategies.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee:
This product should benefit the manufacturing, distribution, and
contracting sectors by generating more work and creating more jobs; builders and
insurance firms by reducing mold claims; utilities and ratepayers by improving
load factors and decreasing costs of generation; and homeowners and government
agencies by reducing energy costs and improving indoor air quality and comfort.