Solar powered air-conditioning developed in Canberra

Yeah, I got a good look and bit of a tour of the sliver cell research last year, looked pretty tops.

The ANU marketing machine is an impressive thing. There is no doubt that good research occurs within the College of Engineering and IT, but this technology has been under active research for decades, most of which ANU has played little roll in, and they certainly aren’t at the leading edge. Its a similar situation for thin film solar, combined heat and power, phase change energy storage etc…

Sliver cells seem revolutionary though…

This sounds like a very good idea. Not wanting to be cynical but a lot of good ideas get announced in the too preliminary stage, probably about the time the present grant is running out. I hope this is an almost economic idea if it comes to fruition and a lot more sensibly priced than PV electricity is at the moment. If the idea becomes fashionable, price won’t matter anyway.

They are into some seriously cool projects in ANU.

There is another area that is trying to design solar power generation based on mimicking the functioning of chloroplasts in plants – the green bits that photosynthesise.

(I wonder if that would lead to PV panels that are green instead of black?)

taco said :

It’s not aircon as I understand it – it’s a type of heat pump/exchanger

A refrigeration unit is also a heat pump/exchanger. The difference is a refrigerator contains a “compression heat pump” and this seems to be an “absorption heat pump” – like a gas-powered camping fridge.

Bees have used evaporative cooling for at least the last 130 million years, including through several periods of global warming. Funny thing is they don’t know anything about the laws of thermodynamics, inversion layers or university research programs (that need funding perhaps?).

And thus, proof the Darwinian Evolution if flawed and Intelligent Design is the only possible answer.*

*(I am of course being very, very, sarcastic with this comment).

You make it sound like one day a bee just thought “hmm, evaporative cooling, what a great idea”, then told all her friends, and hey presto, evaporatively cooled bees. Hurrah for their cleverness! 😉

Bees have used evaporative cooling for at least the last 130 million years, including through several periods of global warming. Funny thing is they don’t know anything about the laws of thermodynamics, inversion layers or university research programs (that need funding perhaps?).

fnaah- it’s not Newton’s laws. It’s the laws of thermodynamics

Yes, I know that’s how the air cooler works, I was referring to the “perpetual motion machine” mentioned in the OP.

Looks like a great concept – a quick Google of the underlying technology (ejector cooling) reveals that this has been in the works for a while. The proposed solution would also be able to heat you house in winter!

Can’t wait to see the commercially produced coolers, and it is great to see ANU again coming to the fore with very practical technology developments.