Heating & Cooling WITH Water

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Evaporative Coolers This paper provides an introduction to the process of evaporative cooling. In addition, the natural limitations and problems associated with this process, along with some practical applications of evaporative cooling are examined.

Hydronic Conditioning All-Air Systems achieve the task of cooling a building by convection only. An alternative is to provide the cooling through a combination of radiation and convection inside the building. This strategy uses cool surfaces in a conditioned space to cool the air and the space enclosures. The systems based on this strategy are often called Radiative Cooling Systems, although only approximately 60% of the heat transfer is due to radiation. If the cooling of the surfaces is produced using water as transport medium, the resulting systems are called Hydronic Radiant Cooling Systems (HRC Systems). By providing cooling to the space surfaces rather than directly to the air, HRC Systems allow the separation of the tasks of ventilation and thermal space conditioning.

Radiant Heating and Cooling Made Inexpensive [PDF] The Rapid Radiant Deployment System (RRDS) developed by Davis Energy Group reduces the costs of HRF systems by standardizing and simplifying the installation process and by using the radiant system to provide cooling and heating—in many cases, this system completely eliminates the cost of a forced-air system.

ESB: Hydronic Cooling Residential and commercial buildings can incorporate hydronic cooling in several ways. Cool water is circulated through tubes to each room or zone. Tubes can be embedded in concrete floors (or ceilings in commercial buildings), attached to aluminum panels or attached to fin-tube convectors.

Alternative cooling systems - Oldhouseweb.com A geothermal heating and cooling system can be operated in a heating or cooling mode under any outside temperature. Although expensive to install, they normally are efficient and economical to operate.

Deep Lake Water Cooling: Chilled Water for Cooling Toronto's Buildings Deep Lake Water Cooling technology uses icy-cold water that is just above freezing (4° C) as a renewable source of energy. As the surface of the lake cools to 4° C in the winter, the surface water sinks because it is at its highest density. In the summer, surface water is warmed, but remains on the surface because it is less dense. Deep Lake Water Cooling remains very cold all summer long. Over the years, this cycle has created a permanent reservoir of very cold water that lies on the bottom of Lake Ontario.

Using Geothermal Heat Pumps to Heat and Cool Buildings A heat pump—like an air conditioner or refrigerator— moves heat from one place to another. In the summer, a geothermal heat pump (GHP) operating in a cooling mode lowers indoor temperatures by transferring heat from inside a building to the ground outside or below it. Unlike an air conditioner, though, a heat pump's process can be reversed. In the winter, a GHP extracts heat from the ground and transfers it inside. Also, the GHP can use waste heat from summer air-conditioning to provide virtually free hot-water heating. The energy value of the heat moved is typically more than three times the electricity used in the transfer process. GHPs are efficient and require no backup heat because the earth stays at a relatively moderate temperature throughout the year.

Heating and Cooling There are various ways businesses use water for heating and cooling. This section explores the following topics:

Cooling Towers
Single Pass Cooling
Evaporative Coolers (Swamp Coolers)
Boilers

Theory of Heat Pump Operation Incredibly detailed, informative article.

Department of Energy - Heating & Cooling

Energy Efficient Heating & Cooling : ENERGY STAR

Integrating the Heating or Cooling a House Many conventional home heating and cooling appliances perform a single function, such as space heating or cooling (heat pumps supply both space heating and cooling), water heating, or ventilation. Appliances that perform two or more of these functions, however, are becoming more popular.

Hydro One Networks - Energy Efficiency Tips and Tools Electric heat pumps are year-round heating and cooling systems. They are called heat pumps because they "pump" or move heat from one place to another. If your seasonal home requires year-round heating and cooling, heat pumps may be a valid option.

Direct Systems This system uses a pump to circulate potable water from the water storage tank through one or more collectors and back into the tank. The pump is regulated by an electronic controller, an appliance timer, or a photovoltaic panel.

Indirect Systems In this system, a heat exchanger heats a fluid that circulates in tubes through the water storage tank, transferring the heat from the fluid to the potable water.

Thermosiphons A thermosiphon solar water heating system has a tank mounted above the collector. As the collector heats the water, it rises to the storage tank, while heavier cold water sinks down to the collector.

Draindown Systems In cold climates, this system prevents water from freezing in the collector by using electric valves that automatically drain the water from the collector when the temperature drops to freezing. "Drainback systems," a variation of this approach, automatically drain the collector whenever the circulating pump stops.

Flat Plate Collectors The most common collector for solar hot water is the flat plate collector. It is a rectangular box with a transparent cover, installed on a building's roof. Small tubes run through the box and carry fluid-either water or other fluid, such as an antifreeze solution. The tubes attach to a black absorber plate. As heat builds up in the collector, it heats the fluid passing through the tubes. The hot water or liquid goes to a storage tank. If the fluid is not hot water, water is heated by passing it through a tube inside the storage tank full of hot fluid.

Evacuated Tube Collectors These collectors consist of rows of parallel transparent glass tubes, each containing an absorber and covered with a selective coating. Sunlight enters the tube, strikes the absorber, and heats the liquid flowing through the absorber. These collectors are manufactured with a vacuum between the tubes, which helps them achieve extremely high temperatures (170-350 degrees F); so they are appropriate for commercial and industrial uses.

Concentrating Collectors Parabolic trough-shaped reflectors concentrate sunlight onto an absorber or receiver to provide hot water and steam, usually for industrial and commercial applications.

Transpired Solar Collectors A transpired collector is a south facing outside wall covered by a dark sheet metal collector. The collector heats outside air, which is then sucked into the building's ventilation system through perforations in the collector. They have been used for pre-heating ventilation air and crop drying. They are inexpensive to make, and commercially, have achieved efficiencies of more than 70 percent.

Batch or Breadbox Heaters This system is also referred to as a batch heater and a breadbox. It consists of an approximately 40-gallon insulated tank, lined with glass on the inside and painted black on the outside. It is mounted on the roof, or on the ground in the sun. Plumbing from the house supplies the box with cold water through an inlet that extends down to the bottom of the tank. The box itself acts like a collector, absorbing and trapping the sun's heat and heating the water. An outlet supplies the house with heated water from the top of the tank.

Solar Process Heat These systems consists of several thousand square feet of ground-mounted collectors, pumps, heat exchangers, controls, and one or more large storage tanks. Typically, they provide hot water and hot water space heating for large institutions such as schools, office buildings, prisons, and military bases.

Active Solar Cooling As water evaporates, it cools the air. Evaporative cooling systems, usually appropriate for hot dry climates, can be powered with solar technology. In humid climates, desiccant evaporative cooling systems use the same evaporative concept to cool air, but they also include a desiccant wheel to dry incoming air. Waste heat from the building, natural gas, or solar technologies can be used to regenerate the desiccant wheel. Evaporative cooling is a CFC-free and energy-efficient way to cool commercial buildings. In absorption solar cooling, an absorption device uses a heat source, such as natural gas or a large solar collector, to evaporate refrigerant.

Certification of Solar Water Heaters Solar research facilities have developed testing and certification requirements for solar collectors and design and installation criteria for solar systems. Thermal performance ratings, derived from testing and certification programs, are a useful tool in comparing the efficiency and economics of various flat-plate solar collectors.

Incentives Builders, utilities, and the Department of Energy have joined together on several occasions to offer tax credits and utility rebates to encourage the use of solar hot water for residential and commercial projects.

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