SBIR-STTR Award

Buildings consume 40% of the primary energy used in the United States. Space cooling accounts for approximately 12.7% of that primary energy consumption. The cooling demand is determined largely by two external factors: the temperature and humidity of the outdoor air, and the amount of solar radiation incident on the buildings exterior surfaces. The proposal concerns a technology that is integrated into the building to reduce both sources of the cooling: the VENTILATION load and the ENVELOPE load.The proposal concerns an enthalpy recovery system a device that uses the cooler, drier building exhaust air to pre-cool and pre-dry incoming fresh air in hot, humid climates. Integrating the device into a part of the building enclosure provides several

Benefits:
The large available surface area, combined with recent material technology developed by a commercialization partner, enables a very complete pre-cooling and drying of the incoming fresh air without requiring the extra energy for higher fan pressure that is needed in conventional systems. In this way, the VENTILATION portion of the cooling load can be reduced. By flowing the exhaust air through the building enclosure system on its way out of the building, that airstream can be made to trap the incoming solar radiation and flush it back to the exterior before it enters the building and needs to be managed by the building air conditioning system .In this way, the ENVELOPE portion of the cooling load is also reduced. The proposal would enable a detailed feasibility study of the ENVELOPE portion of the system functionality through measurement and simulation in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A feasibility assessment on the VENTILATION portion of the system is already underway with separate funding.Commercial Applications and

Benefits:
Reduction in cooling energy use will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, electrical generation requirements, and dependence on foreign energy supplies. Commercializing this technology will provide a leadership position in building-integrated thermal management and provide space- and flexibility benefits to both new and retrofit commercial real estate markets. The potential market for this hybrid technology is large, manufacturing at scale is very feasible, and several industry members have already expressed interest in partnering on this endeavor.

Approximately 39% of domestic energy, or 4.5 Quads, is consumed annually in the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) of buildings. Energy recovery ventilators (ERV) have the potential to save more than 2 Quads of this energybut, to date, their low performance, large size, and other disadvantages have prevented their widespread commercial adoption. The subject technology for this SBIR Phase IIB project overcomes these key limitations via a novel, counter-flow ERV that exhibits superior performance due to its counter-flow configuration and a panelized form factor integrated into the building wall system to save space. Results measured during prior phases of the SBIR project indicated that the product outperforms current technology by 28% while saving space, improving indoor air quality, and reducing GHG emissions. In Phase I and under prior ARPA-E funding, the feasibility of the technology was demonstrated at lab bench scale. In Phase II, the technology was developed and validated in full-scale, fully integrated operational units in the U.S. and in Singapore, demonstrating a host of advantages in terms of energy reduction, space savings, and potential health improvements. These demonstrations have generated strong, broad-based customer interest. The key next development steps must address manufacturing costs that remain too high to meet customer ROI. To address this challenge, lead organization Architectural Applications has teamed with Oregon State University, who brings world-renowned expertise in high-performance/low-cost micro- channel heat- and mass-exchanger manufacturing. The Phase IIB objective is to develop innovative, low-cost manufacturing techniques, exchanger architectures, and assembly sequences to manufacture the product at costs enabling broad market adoption. We will do so using a newly improved membrane product and novel methods borrowed from the printed circuit industry. Successful deployment of the technology could produce large economic and social benefits. The U.S. military could save as much as $8B in annual air conditioning costs from broad adoption of the technology. Healthcare system benefits could be as large as $6 to $14 billion from reduced respiratory disease, $2 to $4 billion from reduced allergies and asthma, $10 to $30 billion from reduced sick building syndrome symptoms, and $20 to $160 billion from direct improvements in worker performance that are unrelated to health.