SBIR Phase II: Redefining Air Conditioning: Commercializing Hyper-Efficient Rotary Heat Exchanger for Residential and Commercial HVAC Energy Reduction

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will develop a room air conditioner (RAC) that reduces electricity consumption and decreases carbon dioxide and other emissions. The need for space cooling is expected to increase both in the U.S. and globally. With current technologies achieving only incrementally better energy efficiency, consumer costs and grid loads will worsen. The proposed technology will lead to an estimated 67% reduction in energy costs for consumers and a higher quality of life through improved indoor air quality. Billions of RACs are predicted to be sold in the next 30 years, requiring $1.2T in power generation capacity; investments that can be significantly reduced by improved efficiencies such as the proposed RAC. Internet-of-things (IoT) IoT functionalities for RACs will allow further energy efficiency as the units will respond automatically to grid demand signals. The additional benefits are improved indoor air quality through the RAC’s air filtration functionality, improved external air quality from emissions reductions, reduced noise pollution from more efficient system operation, and reduced solid waste generation from longer product life. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to finalize and validate prototyping through bench-top and third-party laboratory testing, demonstrate and verify air conditioner performance through field pilot testing and evaluation, and finalize design-for-manufacturability (DFM) and IoT integration of field-ready prototypes. Within these tasks, this project will perform component-level optimization of the heat exchanger, compressor, magnetic linkage, and housing assembly. The testing phase will collect verification and validation data in multiple relevant real-world environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.