Friday, July 2, 2010

Air conditioning without CFC's

evaporative cooling, has been around for centuries, in Iran they hang wet mats in towers to induce a cool airflow to cool entire mosques, in this continent we use swamp coolers, but this only works well in dry climates.
In high humidity situations this causes extreme discomfort!
Enter a new method where the moisture is contained in a heat exchanger membrane, and a dessicant is added to remove the moisture , in the form of calcium chloride, and the humidity is boiled off with solar heat!
This is being prototyped now, meanwhile you can also cool yourself by drawing air through the basement and exhausting up high through a ceiling hatch, or even better, through a cupola or solar chimney with thermal mass, so that the action continues at night when cooler air can be drawn in from outside to flush the structure.
If your air is too humid for comfort, consider radiant panels on the ceiling above your bed and circulate cool water from a well, city drinking supply or from a cistern in the ground.
Moisture will condense on the surface, and can be drained away with a gutter, and radiant coolth will improve your comfort while asleep!