Localised personal air conditioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional air conditioning systems are inefficient in localizing cooling, leading to excessive energy consumption, as they cool the entire room rather than focusing on the person, and existing UPS systems cannot power air conditioners due to high startup currents required by the compressor.
Innovation Solution
A portable air conditioning system with a fabric enclosure that directs cooled air specifically over a bed, using a nozzle with an air flow straightener and a pervious upper section combined with an impervious lower section to retain cool air and minimize leakage, allowing for efficient cooling of the upper body and face while preventing warm air infiltration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional air conditioning systems cool the entire room, then the cooling coverage is comprehensive, but the energy consumption is excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the room into two distinct zones: a cooled personal zone around the bed and an uncooled rest of the room. This is achieved through localized air conditioning equipment positioned near the bed, creating a segmented cooling approach that reduces overall energy consumption while maintaining comfortable sleeping conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies cooling only to the specific location where a person sleeps, rather than uniformly cooling the entire room. The cooled air is directed locally around the bed area, creating a temperature gradient that provides comfort where needed while leaving other areas at ambient temperature, thus significantly reducing energy usage.
2Loss of energy
If a fabric enclosure is used to retain cool air, then cooling efficiency is improved, but air leakage through the pervious upper section occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The fabric enclosure uses different material properties in different sections: the upper section is pervious to allow breathability and prevent condensation, while the lower section is impervious to prevent cool air leakage. This localized differentiation of material properties optimizes both cooling retention and air quality management.
Solution Approach 2:
The enclosure is divided into functional segments with distinct characteristics - a pervious upper portion for breathability and an impervious lower portion for sealing. This segmentation allows each section to perform its specific function optimally while working together to retain cool air effectively.
3Stability of the object's composition
If air is injected at high velocity through vents, then mixing throughout the enclosed space is achieved, but the cooling becomes uniform rather than localized
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the air mixing function that is characteristic of conventional systems and replaces it with a localized delivery approach. Instead of injecting air at high velocity to achieve room-wide mixing, the system delivers cooled air directly to the personal zone at lower velocities, maintaining temperature stability where needed without wasting energy on unnecessary mixing throughout the entire space.
4Loss of energy
If the lower section of the enclosure extends to sufficient height, then cool air is contained effectively, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a fabric enclosure with a lower section extending to appropriate height to contain cool air effectively. The fabric material provides a simple, flexible sealing solution that is easier to implement than rigid structural alternatives, maintaining cool air containment while minimizing device complexity through the use of flexible, form-fitting materials.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system reduces energy consumption by focusing cooling on the upper body and face, allowing for comfortable sleeping with a 600 Watts cooling power using only 270 Watts of electricity, suitable for a typical UPS unit, and enables window openness for fresh air, with minimal heat release into the room.
Implementation Method 1
The air conditioner removes heat from the air by passing it through a heat exchanger containing a cool fluid
Implementation Method 2
The heat absorbed from the cooled space air (including the latent heat obtained by condensing water vapour to liquid water) at the evaporator
Implementation Method 3
The energy used to compress the refrigerant gas also appears at the condenser
Implementation Method 4
a heat exchanger cooled by some other mechanism such as the Peltier (or thermoelectric) effect
Data Source
AI summary
A sleeping space air conditioner including a quiet low powered air conditioner 1, a sleeping space into which conditioned air is delivered, the sleeping space including an upper air pervious section 2 and a lower relatively air impervious section 3 surrounding a bed in the sleeping space, the impervious section 3 extending to a height above the sleeping surface of the bed sufficient to contain the conditioned air as it moves towards and returns from the opposite end or side of the sleeping space, the impervious section 3 extending to a sufficiently increased height above the sleeping surface at the opposite end or side to allow the direction of air flow to reverse towards said one end or side without substantial loss of conditioned air through the pervious section 2.