New solar-powered hybrid aircon invented by NUS engineers uses less electricity & emits less heat

Very cool.

Zhangxin Zheng | May 21, 2020, 07:04 PM

The weather in Singapore has been incredibly hot and sweltering in recent years and climate change is likely to bring about hotter days ahead.

Thankfully, engineers from National University Singapore (NUS) have invented something cool to help people cope with the heat.

Hybrid air conditioner powered by sunlight

A team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the NUS Faculty of Engineering collaborated with Singapore-based company, Ecoline Solar, to develop hybrid solar-thermal air conditioners.

The air conditioner collects heat using a solar thermal collector which has vacuum tubes filled with a novel medium designed and engineered by the NUS team.

The solar thermal collectors can absorb more solar energy and heat from the surroundings.

The harnessed energy is used to heat up the refrigerant in the system, converting it from a low pressure, low temperature gas into a high pressure, high temperature gas.

This reduces the system’s reliance on the compressor that pumps the refrigerant through the system and, in turn, reduces the system’s overall electricity consumption and heat emitted.

A game changer to the industry

This hybrid air conditioner system has been described as a "game changer" in the industry, according to the Director of Ecoline Solar, Colin Chia, as it can help buildings, businesses, and households to be more energy-efficient and hence reduce their carbon footprint in a bid to fight climate change.

“The hotter the sun and the warmer the surrounding environment, the more efficient our hybrid air conditioner system becomes. This is a game changer in the air conditioning industry. For consumers, this translates to greater savings in electricity consumption even when compared to the best conventional and inverter air conditioning systems in the market.”

nus aircon From left: Associate Professor Ernest Chua Kian Jon, Mr Colin Chia (Ecoline Solar), and Mr Liam Kok Aeng (Ecoline Solar) demonstrate their hybrid solar technology. Photo courtesy of NUS.

Associate Professor Ernest Chua Kian Jon who led the NUS team also explained that this invention is important as more people will turn to the use of air conditioners to cope with the warmer weather exacerbated by climate change and urbanisation.

Conventional air conditioners are energy-intensive and release heat back to the environment, creating "undesirable heat zones" and that will lead to even warmer temperatures.

The hybrid system can break this vicious cycle of warming as it markedly reduces energy consumption and cuts the volume of heat dissipated to the environment", according to Chua.

More environmental-friendly and cost saving cooling solution

This cooling technology has been now adopted by some companies in Singapore in their buildings such as NCS Singtel, Starhub and Highway International.

The system is also used in local vertical farms as well as several condominiums and hotels.

This system currently costs 20 per cent more than an inverter air-conditioner.

However, users can easily offset the cost difference with its electrical cost savings in less than two years.

The hybrid system has consistently reduced electricity usage by 30 to 50 percent which will help users save on their utility bills.

In the long run, this is also a more environmentally-friendly and cost-effective cooling solution.

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Top image courtesy of NUS and by Kirill Petropavlov via Unsplash