Chris Ives, "Energy-Related-Innovations Worth Evaluating for the Arctic North"
Mr. Chris Ives, founder of EriA EcoSystems and Researcher/Project-Manager with the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC)
Summary: Mr. Ives presented three new technologies under development. First he presented the Dutch Heat Exchanger, also called a “fine wire heat exchanger” or FiWiHex and its application in the “Breathing Window,” as well as in heat pumps, green houses and “Greenhouse Villages”. Next he discussed the Quebec Wind Power Turbine, presenting several models of cost effective cylindrical wind turbines with scooped bucket-style blades that can be roof mounted and operate in low wind speeds. Finally, he discussed the development of the Alberta Solar Storage Panels. These are solar thermal collectors with direct heat storage and integrated into exterior walls.
Mr. Ives’ presentation, “Some Energy-related Innovations Possibly worth Evaluating in Harsh Northern Environments,” began with the discussion of a Dutch made “Breathing Window” prototype invented by Jon Kristinsson and manufactured by Brink Climate Systems. The “window” is actually an extremely quiet heat exchanger set into a recessed area in the wall which heats the outside air at a 95% efficiency rate as it is allowed into the room. The heat recovery ventilation system is a “fine wire heat exchanger” (FiWiHex) composed of 10 miles of 15 ml thin copper wires woven into a thick mat. Copper wire heat transference is 15 times greater than standard metal heat exchanger plates. The heat exchanger is removable and can be cleansed in a dishwasher. Brink is testing this product and it is expected to become commercially available in 2008.
Mr. Ives discussed the use of FiWiHex technology in heat pumps with data from the testing of two different systems, one using outside air and the other ground water as a heat source. Mr. Ives said the co-efficiency of performance is better using groundwater over air. One advantage to FiWiHex is that you can use low temperature geothermal heat to heat a building. You only need one or two degrees temperature difference to drive the heat exchange process. The heat pump uses FiWiHex and two slowly turning fans that drive air through a maze of copper fine wires woven around water carrying copper capillaries: a fine wire water-to-air heat exchanger. The result is one million 100μ Ø, 6 mm long copper fins that transfer heat ten times better than a typical central heating radiator. “The heat pump takes only 60 watts to operate and can be applied to either heat or cool a house. Compare that to a conventional heat pump which requires 1200 watts or an air conditioner that takes 400 W to do the same work,” declared Mr. Ives. A manufacturing unit is being built near Moscow , Russia , to be available in 2008. Other potential applications using FiWiHex are the refrigeration of food, and the development of high efficiency solar thermal panels that use underground heat storage tanks using Glauber's salt, sand, rock and/or groundwater as a storage medium.
Mr. Ives discussed the efficiency in using FiWiHex air-to-water heat exchange technology in greenhouses. The Dutch held a solar greenhouse design contest since greenhouses typically use a lot of energy. The FiWiHex design is an example of a net positive energy greenhouse producing more energy than it uses. Rather than venting excess heat to the outside, the heat is transferred to shallow groundwater tanks under the greenhouse. The stored hot water is used in the winter to heat the greenhouse using the same heat pump. This concept could be applied on a wider scale. Mr. Ives showed conceptual designs for “Greenhouse Villages” with housing units interconnected by greenhouses for year round growing of food and outdoor spaces and walkways. The excess heat is pumped underground into large aquifers. Mr. Ives said that the Dutch are in the process of actually developing a 20-hectare Greenhouse Village .
Next, Mr. Ives discussed innovative wind turbines developed in Quebec ; the 3 – 15 kW models produced by Vertica Inc., the 10 kW PacWind Delta II turbine, and the 1.5 kW turbine produced by ESTA Inc. “The first unit I saw was a 6 kW unit mounted on a farm silo near Montreal in a known icing corridor with severe wind conditions that can gust up to 111 mph. None of these turbines have iced up, nor have any of the FiWiHex heat exchanger models. These companies would like to test their products in areas with even more severe weather conditions,” declared Mr. Ives. The cylindrical turbine systems have scooped or “bucket-style” blades. They can be mounted on top of roofs and their short base enclosed inside the building for protection of the bearings from the cold and for easy maintenance. The PacWind Delta model is very compact (9 ft., 500 lb. turbines) and can be stacked vertically to produce up to 50 kW. Many other features make them remarkable: the ease of installation –cranes, towers or large equipment aren’t required as the turbines are small and can be hauled on a trailer with a pickup truck. They are very quiet. They don’t cause vibration to the structure they are mounted to. They have never had an observed avian death as they are very visible to birds.
Mr. Ives said that conventional 3-blade turbines are widely known to have major design flaws. They cannot self start in low wind speeds nor can it self regulate in mid to high wind speeds. Efficiencies are greatly reduced due to starting and stopping mechanisms, maintenance problems, and self destruction from over spinning. The spinning blades are nearly invisible to birds, thus a potential for avian death problems. They also vibrate and create too much noise to be roof mountable.
The cylindrical systems have low cut-in wind speeds. The 10kW PacWind model has a cut-in speed of 6 mph, no cut-out speed and a nominal speed of 28 mph. The Vertica models’ nominal speed is 31 mph. Mr. Ives recommended the use of anemometers to find the best site for the turbine. As with conventional turbines, the higher the wind speed, the more electricity is produced and thus the faster rate of return on investments. Mr. Ives shared some cost statistics: The installed cost of the 15 kW roof mounted Vertica model is app. $4,000 per kW, compared to about $10,000 per kW for photovoltaic energy. The ESTA 1.5 kW model costs app. $10,000 installed. A further cost analysis of the Vertica models showed that at the lower wind speed of 11 mph production costs would be 21¢ per kWh. If the wind speed is 14 mph the cost is 8¢ per kWh compared to 38¢ for diesel and $1.13 for photovoltaic per kWh. Vertica contact information is 450-551-0641 or info@vertica-inc.com. PacWind Delta website is www.pacwind.net. No references found for ESTA.
The third promising technology developed in Edmonton , Alberta , Canada by the Alberta Research Council is a solar thermal collector with the ability for direct heat storage (DHS). This technology can integrate into a structures east, west, and south facing exterior walls with an 8’ x 4’ structurally insulated panel (SIP) composed of a gel pack phase change, salt-like material (PCM) coated with a thin solar radiation absorption layer and covered with transparent glass. As the panel is exposed to the sun the collector absorbs the solar radiation, generates heat and melts the PCM. During the night the melted PCM solidifies and delivers heat to keep the exterior wall warm for a prolonged period of time. The purpose of the DHS panel is to keep the outside wall temperature warm (over 20ºC), to prevent heat loss through the wall.
In the prototype system, to control the DHS systems exposure to the sun, each wall was equipped with a motorized shutter system. The role of shutters is to control the exchange of energy with the environment. Two modes of the DHS system operation are predicted. In winter mode, during the day, shutters are up allowing absorption of the maximum amount of solar energy in the DHS panel. During the night shutters are down to reduce heat losses. As a result, the heat required for building space heating is significantly reduced. In the summer mode, the system action is reversed and the shutters are down in the day to block heat access and are up in night to allow energy to discharge. Consequently, the walls of the building are prevented from being overheated and
The three-wall solar system is especially justified in northern regions where vertical building walls or facades are well suited for solar energy collection during winter months, which are characterized by the low position of the sun. This technology is developed and the company is looking for demonstration sites.
In conclusion, Mr. Ives discussed the economics of the solar panels. The panel prototypes have demonstrated a significant savings in space heating costs. The panel’s costs app. $2.80 per square foot compared to the normal curtain wall costs of approximately $4.65 per square foot in Mr. Ives area.