Waste heat air-conditioning

A project report on

Best from waste: Costless airconditioning in auto-mobiles

By Nirmit Sanchapara

INDEX
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Topic
Abstract
Introduction
History of Refrigeration
Project Core
Cooling Cycle
Exhaust Gas Temperature(EGT)
details
Achievements Earned
Gantt chart of schedule

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Waste heat air-conditioning

Waste Heat Air-conditioning

The current world is facing problems with the scarcity of fossil fuels.
According to various surveys done, the important quantity of fuels is used in
industries and automobiles. In automobiles there are many attempts done for
increasing efficiency of engine although there are few fields in which
improvement is needed. Ample amount of the fuel is used for operating airconditioning system. It actually reduces the efficiency of the automobile as the
air-conditioning is generally done with the help of engine power. Hence, when
the air-conditioning system is off the efficiency is high but when it is on
efficiency is less. It can be understood by a simple example that the rents are
higher for an air-conditioned auto-mobile than the non air-conditioned one.
According to law of energy conservation Energy can neither be generated nor
can be destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another. As
per the law energy cannot be destroyed but it can be wasted! In automobiles
we are allowing a large amount of heat waste from silencers. Whenever we
start engines the flue gases coming out from silencers are having a valuable
amount of heat. This heat is generally dissipated in the environment. Now the
question arises, why should we waste this heat?
After synthesizing vehicle dynamics and these two facts- fuel consumption for
air-conditioning and silencer heat waste- the project aim is decided to utilize
only the heat waste done in the silencers due to hot exhaust gases for
providing air-conditioning. As the system operates only with the help of heat
waste done in silencers the fuel efficiency remains stable in both case whether
the air-condition is running or not. As fuel utilized is less and
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) is not used as refrigerant, the project is environment
friendly and not responsible for global warming. A well designed system for
fulfilling the aim is ready with calculations and a demo model.

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Waste heat air-conditioning

1) Introduction:
Automobile air conditioning systems cool the occupants of a vehicle in hot
weather, and have come into wide use from the late twentieth century. Most
competing systems used a separate heating system and an engine-mounted
compressor hence the air conditioners use significant power; on the other
hand the drag of a car with closed windows is less than the drag while windows
are open. There has been much debate on the effect of air conditioning on the
fuel efficiency of a vehicle. Factors such as aerodynamics, wind resistance and
weight have to be factored into finding the true variance between using the air
conditioning system and not using it when estimating the actual fuel mileage.
Current air-conditioning systems works in a following way:
Automobile air conditioning systems are a closed pressurized system. It
consists of a compressor, condenser, accumulator that is sometimes called a
receiver dryer, and an expansion valve or an orifice tube and finally an
evaporator. These components work together in your automotive ac system to
create an output air temperature in the low 40 Fahrenheit range. A figure
explaining automobile air-conditioning system is shown in figure below.

Fig 1
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Waste heat air-conditioning

2) History:
Lets take a glance towards the history of automobile air-conditioning.
The Packard Motor Car Company was the first automobile manufacturer
to offer an air conditioning unit into its cars, beginning in 1939.
General Motors made a front mounted air conditioning system optional
in 1954 on Pontiacs with a straight-eight engine that added separate
controls and air distribution. The innovation was adopted quickly, and by
1960 about 20% of all cars in the U.S. had air-conditioning, with the
percentage increasing to 80% in the warm areas of the Southwest.
American Motors made air conditioning standard equipment on all AMC
Ambassadors starting with the 1968 model year.
By 1969, 54% of the domestic automobiles were equipped with air
conditioning, with the feature needed not only for passenger comfort,
but also to increase the car's resale value.

3) Project core:
In the present era, mankind is fighting with major problems like scarcity of
fossil fuels, global warming, low economy, etc. There are many attempts done
to solve these problems individually but I have a combo of solutions! How
good it will be if we can solve more than one problem by implementing a single
system! According to various surveys done huge quantity of fuels is used in
industries and automobiles. In automobiles there are many attempts done for
increasing efficiency of engine although there are few fields in which
improvement is needed. Ample amount of the fuel is used for operating airconditioning system as the air-conditioning is generally done with the help of
engine shaft power. Hence, when the air-conditioning system is off the
efficiency is high but when it is on efficiency is less. It can be understood by a
simple example that the rents are higher for an air-conditioned auto-mobile
than the non-air-conditioned one. In other words when we switch on the airconditioning system the efficiency i.e average of the vehicle reduces.
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Waste heat air-conditioning

The law of energy conservation says that Energy can neither be generated nor
it can be destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another. As
per the law energy cannot be destroyed but it can be wasted! The present
condition of technology shows that we are wasting a huge amount of energy.
In automobiles we are allowing a large amount of heat waste from silencers.
Whenever we start engines the exhaust gases coming out from silencers are
having a particular amount of heat. This heat is generally dissipated in the
environment. Now the question arises, why should we waste this energy?
After synthesizing vehicle dynamics and these two facts- fuel consumption for
air-conditioning and silencer heat waste- I made a project which provides airconditioning by utilizing only the heat waste done from silencers due to hot
exhaust gases. Hence, by introducing this system we can have air-conditioning
without affecting the fuel efficiency.

4) Cooling cycle:
An Electrolux system uses a heat source to provide the energy needed to drive
the cooling system hence it is basically a compressor less cycle.
Electrolux based air-conditioning system can be used as an alternative to
regular compressor air-conditioning system where electricity is unreliable,
costly, or unavailable, where noise from the compressor is problematic, or
where surplus heat is available (e.g. from automobile combustion exhausts,
industrial processes, from turbine exhausts or solar plants).
This type of cooling system is also called three fluid absorption system. The
main purpose of this system is to eliminate the pump so that in the absence of
moving parts, the machine becomes noiseless. The three fluids used in this
system are ammonia, hydrogen and water. The ammonia is used as refrigerant
because it possesses most of the desirable properties. The hydrogen, being the
lightest gas, is used to increase the rate of evaporation of the liquid ammonia
passing through the evaporator. The hydrogen is also non corrosive and
insoluble in water. This is used in the low pressure side of the system. The
water is used as solvent because it has ability to absorb ammonia readily. The
principle of operation of Electrolux type cooling system is as shown in above
figure.
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Waste heat air-conditioning

Fig 2
The strong ammonia solution from the absorber through heat exchanger is
heated in the generator by applying heat from an external source. During this
heating process, ammonia vapours are removed from the solution and passed
to the condenser. A rectifier or a water separator fitted before the condenser
removes water vapour carried with the ammonia vapours, so that dry
ammonia vapours are supplied to the condenser. These water vapours, if not
removed, will enter into the evaporator causing freezing and choking of the
machine. The hot weak solution left behind while passing through the
exchanger is cooled. The heat removed by the weak solution is utilized in
raising temperature of the strong solution passing through the heat exchanger.
In this way, absorption is accelerated and improvement in the performance of
the plant is achieved.
The ammonia vapours in the condenser are condensed by using external
cooling source. The liquid refrigerant leaving the condenser flows under gravity
to the evaporator where it meets the hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas which is
being fed to the evaporator permits the liquid ammonia to evaporate at a
lower pressure and temperature according to the Daltons principle. During the
process of evaporation, the ammonia absorbs latent heat from the cooling
place and thus produces cooling effect.
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Waste heat air-conditioning

The mixture of ammonia vapour and hydrogen is passed to the absorber where
ammonia is absorbed in water while the hydrogen rises to the top and flows
back to the evaporator. This completes the cycle.

5) Exhaust Gas Temperature(EGT):

A diagram showing Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) details at different places
of the gas path is shown below.

Fig 3
Temperature in the exhaust manifold is round about 700F i.e 371 C. For the
efficient running of the Electrolux cycle, convenient temperature needed is
about 250C. Thus, the wasted heat by means of exhaust gases contains a
temperature range which is feasible for running the Electrolux cooling cycle
effectively and continuous cooling can be obtained from this system.

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Waste heat air-conditioning

Thus waste heat usage from silencer (exhaust) of an auto-mobile do not permit
the decrement in engines efficiency as cooling is done without use of engine
power and at same time effective cooling is also obtained from the exhaust
gases heat.

6) Achievements earned:

The press conference on this project was done on 09th December, 2013. More
than fifty journalists from different newspapers and media channels have
attended the conference. Many media channels and newspapers broadcasted
the news about this project via their medium. Some newspaper cuttings and a
television screenshot are given below.

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Waste heat air-conditioning

7) Gantt chart of schedule:

10-Aug 31-Aug 21-Sep 12-Oct 2-Nov 23-Nov 14-Dec

4-Jan

25-Jan 15-Feb 8-Mar 29-Mar 19-Apr

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Activity details are given below.

1) Project impact: Study current facts, losses and decide the definition of
the project and so that project can be advantageous and innovative.
2) Study different technical parameters of different cycles to decide which
one is best one for the defined purpose.
3) Calculations for relations between the amounts of wasted heat from
normal engine to the generation of cooling effect.
4) Design of silencer as a heat exchanger.
5) Market search of the decided cycle and purchase of the cycle.
6) Search basic alternative heat source to operate prototype of the cycle
and utilize it for generating same exhaust environment.
7) Make ready the prototype by using required framework connecting
cooling cycle and alternative source.
8) Arrange a press conference.
9) Simultaneous projects and preparation of research paper.
10) Decision of purchase of available automobile engine and silencer.
11) Purchase of engine and silencer and other accessories.
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Waste heat air-conditioning

12) Modification of silencer according to design.
13) Manufacturing of frame work for connecting engine, silence and
cooling cycle.
14) Testing the system in different climatic and vibrational condition.

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