By Ruth Carol Atieno
COOLNOMIX
In recent years, with the planet becoming either hotter or cooler than expected, Air Conditioners (AC) have become a basic necessity in our homes and offices. Those not in a position to afford the ACs resort to other cheaper traditional solutions. Refrigeration has also become a staple occurrence and almost all households have some form of refrigeration in use. However, one of the setbacks of these ACs is their energy consumption.
How then can we make even the efficient ones more efficient? Introducing Coolnomix!
Coolnomix is retrofitted to the controllers of an AC or refrigerator and in turn it optimizes compressor runtime and in the end the AC or refrigerator achieves energy savings.
Devices suitable for installation of Coolnomix
The good news is that the device is compatible with all refrigeration and air conditioning appliances controlled by a single thermostat and designed to work at fixed set point temperatures. So you need not to worry whether your appliance is suitable or not for Coolnomix. The appliance however, has to be well maintained and appropriately sized
Coolnomix works well with:
- Split (wall or cassette) / Packaged / Split Ducted
- VRV / VRF / Inverter
- Single phase or three phase
- Cool only or reverse cycle (no savings in heat mode)
- Single-stage or dual-stage
- Air cooled or water cooled condensers.
Devices not suitable for Coolnomix:
Coolnomix is not suitable for the following:
- Central chilled water systems
- Large office buildings
- Hotels
- Shopping centers
- Evaporative coolers
How does it work?
In short simple words, what Coolnomix does is that it prevents appliances from doing unnecessary work at any point of their functionality. To achieve this, it uses a powerful tool called Optimized Refrigerant Supply (ORS).
The ORS works together with two of the device’s temperature sensors to monitor the room temperature and the refrigerant supply performance of the air conditioning system and then it eliminates unnecessary work.
Using its return air sensor, the ORS ensures that the desirable set point has been achieved. Then with the use of its return and supply air sensors it is able to determine whether spare cooling capacity is available in the evaporator and stops the compressor until the unit stops cooling.
As a result, when the compressor restarts, the condenser is cool and at low pressure, while the evaporator is warm and full of vapour and this gives the compressor the most ideal conditions in which it is able to operate efficiently.
And just like that you will have done away with excess use of energy for no good reason. Your AC or refrigerator will be operating more efficiently!
Why would you want to miss out on this?
Practical example
Take a unit with the capacity to maintain a set point of 23°C on a 35°C day as an example. The thermostat starts the compressor at 24°C and stops it at 22°C. The temperature for the day is only 27°C, and it takes 10 minutes for enough air to flow across the evaporator to reduce the temperature by that 2°C. But in the current conditions, the compressor only needs seven minutes to compress and liquefy the required amount of refrigerant. During the extra 3 minutes it tries to draw vapour that is not readily available from the evaporator, and tries to ram it into an already highly pressurized condenser. The compressor is working hard but achieving little more than over-heating the condenser. (Source)
What will you achieve by installing Coolnomix?
- The most instant achievement is energy savings. The refrigerator or AC will not function the same again. Its energy consumption rate will greatly go down.
- Efficiency relates directly to the environment. The appliance will be more environmentally friendly than it was before.
- Coolnomix also reduces dripping and icing up of the evaporator.
References
- https://www.arbs.com.au/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/6-1d0199594993742a3ec0c662c8b84337/2016/04/WattSolutions_Coolnomix_AC01_HowItWorks_FAQ.pdf
- https://coolnomix.com/