Fabrication of Polyimide Inertial Fusion Energy Target Capsules by a Fully Automated Process

65251 Desiccants ¿ materials that have a strong affinity for water vapor ¿ can be an important part of an air conditioner that cools and dehumidifies the fresh air used to ventilate buildings. Their use would greatly improve indoor air quality by permitting the building ventilation rate to be increased. If the cost of desiccant air conditioners could be reduced and their efficiency increased, they would be more widely used. This project will develop an advanced regenerator for liquid desiccants that requires less energy to return the desiccant to a ¿strong¿ state. The advanced regenerator will have operating and maintenance characteristics that are similar to other air conditioning technologies. In Phase I, computer models of three different approaches to regenerating liquid desiccants will be used to determine the preferred configuration of each. Technology that must be developed before each regenerator can become a commercial product will be identified. After evaluating the preferred configurations of each approach, a design will be prepared of the regenerator that is most likely to lead to a liquid-desiccant air conditioner that can compete with conventional technology. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by awardee: A liquid-desiccant air conditioner that uses the advanced regenerator should be superior to technologies now used to cool and dehumidify ventilation air. The liquid-desiccant regenerator, could both save energy and reduce the burden that electric air conditioning imposes on the country¿s infrastructure for generating and transmitting electricity.