Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday August 20 2020, @10:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the take-my-money dept.

This 'Cold Tube' can beat the summer heat without relying on air conditioning:

"Air conditioners work by cooling down and dehumidifying the air around us—an expensive and not particularly environmentally friendly proposition," explains project co-lead Adam Rysanek, assistant professor of environmental systems at UBC's school of architecture and landscape architecture, whose work focuses on future energy systems and green buildings. "The Cold Tube works by absorbing the heat directly emitted by radiation from a person without having to cool the air passing over their skin. This achieves a significant amount of energy savings."

The Cold Tube is a system of rectangular wall or ceiling panels that are kept cold by chilled water circulating within them. Since heat naturally moves by radiation from a hotter surface to a colder surface, when a person stands beside or under the panel, their body heat radiates towards the colder panel. This creates a sensation of cooling like cold air flowing over the body even if the air temperature is quite high.

Although these types of cooling panels have been used in the building industry for several decades, what makes the Cold Tube unique is that it does not need to be combined with a dehumidification system. Just as a cold glass of lemonade would condense water on a hot summer day, cooling down walls and ceilings in buildings would also condense water without first drying out the air around the panels. The researchers behind the Cold Tube conceived of an airtight, humidity-repelling membrane to encase the chilled panels to prevent condensation from forming while still allowing radiation to travel through.

A new cooling system for your home?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday August 20 2020, @03:16PM (2 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 20 2020, @03:16PM (#1039383)

    I imagine this would smell like a damp basement, because its essentially building a damp basement above ground level.

    It might take some getting used to...

    Another novelty about cold walls is the ever decreasing population that smokes tobacco and the ever increasing population that smokes weed; the walls will be beyond filthy after a couple months without intense air filtration.

    This would also have some impact on the eternal question of wallpaper vs paint.

    "Sorry honey can't hang up wedding photo #27 because we need to keep the walls uncovered to keep cool, also they get moldy so fast"

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 20 2020, @05:23PM (1 child)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday August 20 2020, @05:23PM (#1039456)

    If you could afford to line your basement with copper, it would smell better - if not from the antimicrobial properties of the copper itself, just because if you can afford the copper, you can afford the cleaning staff to keep it wiped down and fresh smelling. Chilled water needs to be contained, and for this system to work well, you want it to circulate through a water container with high thermal conductivity... Aluminum also works, but I think copper might be easier to fabricate on-site.

    the ever increasing population that smokes weed

    To paraphrase "The Graduate": Edibles are the future my boy, edibles.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @11:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @11:50PM (#1039606)

      One word: edibles.

      One word. One word! You had one word, and you messed it up!