Xergy Inc. Demonstrates “Breakthrough” Refrigeration Cycle Based on Electrochemical Compression with Metal Hydride Heat Exchangers
Seaford, DE (PRWEB) March 04, 2016 -- Xergy Inc. (Seaford, DE) has demonstrated a complete heating and cooling cycle using electrochemical compressors with metal hydride heat exchangers. This eco-friendly system exhibits efficiencies significantly higher than traditional mechanical compressors in vapor compression cycles. It is also noiseless, and vibration free, and does not use any harmful refrigerants. This is a breakthrough system that is transformational and disruptive for heating and cooling applications.
New appliance technologies are critical for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mission. One of DOE's goals is to cut building energy use in half while reducing appliance environmental impact. Heating and cooling account for about 48% of the energy use in a typical U.S. home. Most of this energy use is due to heat pump operation.
For the past 100 years, heat pumps in air conditioners, and refrigerators have relied on vapor compression systems. Besides energy use, vapor-compression systems use conventional refrigerants that contribute to global climate change. The good news is that researchers are focusing on many new solutions, and DOE is leading this charge.
Among the innovations supported by DOE is an electrochemical compressor (ECC) for heat pumps pioneered by Xergy Inc. This is a solid-state technology that uses an external voltage to pump a working fluid such as water or hydrogen, as a refrigerant across an ion exchange membrane. This technique has several advantages over traditional mechanical heat pumps. It is much more efficient and does not contribute to global warming. Xergy's ECC system has no moving parts and is thus noiseless and vibration free.
Initial applications for this technology include hybrid water heaters and air conditioners (respectively the top two energy consuming appliances in the home). Hybrid water heaters use heat pumps to reduce the energy needed to heat water by as much as 60%. If you combine the energy saved by using Xergy compressors in these two appliances, we could reduce energy consumption in the U.S.by the equivalent of 5 Quads. This is more than the total energy demand of the State of Florida!
Xergy Inc., a small business from Delaware, is leading the development of this technology. The project reached a major milestone in August 2015, when Xergy shipped the first ECC unit to its commercial partner for incorporation into a prototype hybrid water heater, funded under a DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Now, in 2016, Xergy is proud to announce a complete refrigeration system based on the electrochemical compressors delivered. This completely validates the use of the technology for air conditioners as well as other appliances such as hybrid hot water heaters.
Bamdad Bahar, President of Xergy stated: “It was originally conceived and implemented by Xergy over two years ago in 2014, and was quietly and independently developed by us. However, there have been some recent innovations during performance of our new DOE (BENEFIT) grant program that enabled us to breakthrough and achieve higher efficiencies and durability for the whole system than we were achievable a few years ago. Our incredibly talented team at Xergy have built and demonstrated the system; not modeled it or written papers about it. We actually operated cycles successfully. We’ve not only validated this novel compression technology but, now the complete system. It’s a breakthrough.”
Bamdad Bahar added, “Our partner in the program, The University of Delaware, specifically Dr. Ajay Prasad’s team at the Center for Fuel Cell Research, was very helpful in enabling this breakthrough. With decades of direct experience, UD is clearly the country’s leading center for alternative energy research. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them.”
“The DOE was excited when Xergy delivered its first compressor to its appliance industry partner in August 2015, but now we are thrilled to see a complete refrigeration system that we can touch and feel both hot and cold operating off these electrochemical compressors, with high efficiency and all the benefits Xergy promised in their original research proposal. If you’re not in the heating and cooling technology industry, it may be hard to appreciate the significance of this. Electrochemical compression has the potential to transform the market away from today’s vapor compression solutions. This is a transformational technology,” says Tony Bouza, Technology Manager for HVAC, Water Heating, and Appliances at DOE’s Building Technologies Office (BTO).
DOE made a commitment to Xergy’s ECC technology, investing more than $3 million through three separate projects.
“It’s no longer a matter of if, but when, this technology will enter the market. We’ve proven that refrigeration systems based on electrochemical compression are a viable alternative. Now it’s just a matter of refinement to get the package smaller and cheaper so that it can see widespread adoption in a wide variety of appliances, for global markets,” explained Bamdad Bahar.
The Xergy Compressor system operates by pumping protons across an ion exchange membrane between two gas diffusion electrodes. These protons reform on one side of the membrane to produce pressurized Hydrogen gas with minimal energy loss. The Xergy Compressor Technology is inherently more efficient, motor-less noise-less, modular, scalable, more reliable than traditional mechanical systems and employs non-CFC refrigerants that do not deteriorate our environment. There are many other benefits to the Xergy technology that can be realized depending on the specific application - such as in refrigerators, heat pumps, electronic cooling systems, automotive cooling systems, etc.
This technology is transformational and disruptive, and will revolutionize refrigeration systems globally, resulting in massive environmental benefits. Obviously any gain in system efficiencies will substantially reduce energy consumption and in turn reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. In addition, over 150 million electric motors are produced for mechanical compressors worldwide, and adoption of this technology will reduce depletion of critical raw materials used to make electric motors. Since, this technology can operate without using CFC based refrigerants, it will also dramatically reduce ozone layer depletion caused by current refrigerants. All components in the systems are recyclable.
Xergy Inc. is a high-technology start-up venture based in Sussex County, Delaware with over 30 patents in process. It has entered into programs to commercialize this technology with a number of global F500 companies. After starting up in 2010, Xergy Inc. won the GE Ecomagination award in 2011, was a finalist in the Clean-tech Award in 2012, won a DOE SBIR Phase 1 award in 2013, and Phase II award in 2014. In 2015, Xergy delivered its first prototype electrochemical compressor to its commercial partner.
For more information, please visit Xergy’s website http://www.xergyinc.com or contact Bamdad Bahar, at 302 629 5768
bamdad bahar, xergy inc, http://www.xergyinc.com, +1 (302) 218-4279, [email protected]
Share this article