Uni's air-con works best on hot days, thanks to research
Published on 02 March, 2012
CQUniversity has been testing office air-conditioning which works best when the sun is shining brightly.
In what could be a world first, solar heat is used to run a dehumidifier. Drying the air reduces the need to over-cool, saving up to 40% on the power required for conventional systems.
The machinery required is industrial scale and currently unsuitable for domestic houses, but because of mould reduction it's perfect for use in hospitals and libraries.
For example, CQUniversity's Rockhampton Campus library has recently upgraded its humidity control with systems running off rejected refrigeration heat. These library systems could easily be upgradable to run from solar thermal panels.
The team behind the world-leading use of solar heat for dehumidification includes doctoral candidate Ali Baniyounes and supervisors Associate Professor Mohammad Rasul and Professor Masud Khan.
Their system uses a silica gel moisture filter which has a life of 10 years or more, while the machinery should last for more than 20 years.
While the unit being tested at Rockhampton Campus is a small office design, it is scalable for much larger systems.
