TIAX LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: NSWCCD and ONR have been developing an alternative to traditional central chiller plant --

Description

NSWCCD and ONR have been developing an alternative to traditional central chiller plant -- chilled water distribution combined with local electric resistance heat for shipboard space cooling and heating. Instead, an intermediate sink water system (ISWS) loop is provided that nominally operates at 68 degrees F. This approach has several advantages over central chiller plant and chilled water distribution. To deliver cooling and heating to shipboard spaces from the ISWS, local fan coil units are needed that incorporate a heat pump to remove heat from the space and reject it to the ISWS loop or to extract heat from the ISWS loop and supply it to the space. To obtain maximum advantage of the ISWS, the local fan coil units must be highly efficient, quiet, reliable, and reasonably compact. TIAX LLC proposes to develop families of horizontal and vertical fan coil units that incorporate the best of current refrigerant compressor technology, water to refrigerant and air to refrigerant heat transfer, and motor-blower air moving technology, with thermodynamically effective system design. TIAX recuperative dehumidification technology, a cost-effective method for increasing the dehumidification capacity, will be incorporated as an optional method to efficiently address the high-humidity cooling loads that are typical of shipboard environments.