Emerging Technologies Briefs

What is it? Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs), which recover heat from exhaust air, are common in commercial HVAC systems but have typically not been included on kitchen exhaust systems because grease build-up hinders their effectiveness. However, new generations of ventilation equipment are overcoming this obstacle to allow exhaust air to be used to pre-heat domestic
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What is it? Carbon dioxide (CO2) is everywhere in nature, but it’s not widely known that it can be used in refrigeration systems. Calling CO2, designated “R-744” as a refrigerant, an emerging technology may be a bit of a stretch. It was originally patented as a refrigerant in 1850; however, it fell out of use
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What is it? Membrane air conditioning is a category of cooling technologies that utilizes hydrophilic (attracted to water) membranes to dehumidify air efficiently as part of a cooling system. How does it work? Warm, moist air enters the system and the water (in vapor form) in the air is pulled out in the membrane. A
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What is it? Building operators have long abandoned hope of keeping everyone, everywhere comfortable. However, that’s because they have to set setpoints that occupants have little to no control over. Advanced setpoint controls take the guesswork out and allow users to give the system feedback directly. How does it work? Advanced setpoint controls are software
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What is it? Lithium ion batteries are familiar to most of us. In fact, there is a good chance one is powering the laptop computer or cellphone you are using to read this. Their high energy density and light weight makes them perfect for these applications. Forklifts have continued to use old fashioned lead acid
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The term ‘servo’ refers to a control mechanism that uses negative feedback to sense and correct errors. This control strategy, when applied to motors, results in increased precision and efficiency.