Hugo Geiger Prize 2012

In industrialized countries, high constructions with large glass fronts, will be part of the cityscape. These buildings, however, require a great deal of energy for heating and cooling. Experts believe that the demand only for cooling will triple by 2020. During summer, air-conditioning of rooms can be realised more efficiently by using thermally-driven adsorption cooling units. Here water, as a non-poisonous coolant, silica gel and zeolites as adsorption materials are used. Researchers must dramatically improve these technologies until they are economical and efficient and therefore suitable for daily use. In his diploma thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Harry Kummer developed a highly promising coating system for the use on heat exchangers integrated in these adsorption chillers. His coating system is flexible and suitable for new and optimized adsorption materials. It permits a higher power density of the units through faster adsorption cycles, making it possible to construct these units in a more economical and compact manner. There is a patent pending for the coating process, which is to be further optimized in a large-scale demonstration unit.