Welcome to our first entry on ICPD!
We are She/esh, Group 2 for 2A/02.
We were tasked to find a chemical product that fits into the given categories for our first team activity. We chose a household electronic that many uses, an air-conditioner. An air-con is a micro-structured chemical product that keeps places cool for people's comfort. However, this product is unique, as it does not need to expend any electricity!
A big problem in tropical countries is that many people rely on air-conditioning to keep themselves cool. In India, families in rural areas suffer high temperatures, especially during its frequent heatwaves. These people may not have easy access to electricity.
Hence, an architectural firm Ants Studio decided to create an air-con that utilizes age-old thermodynamics to circumvent this problem. Pipes made of clay were placed in a beehive-like structure. Afterwards, water runs down the structure, wetting the terracotta. When hot air enters through one side of the pipe, the humidity of the pipe captures a part of the heat, cooling it down as the water evaporates. The air then leaves from the other end, cooler than before.
Tests have shown that hot air entering at 10m/s at 122°F (50°C) leaves the structure at 4m/s at 96.8°F (36°C), albeit still high, the temperature drop is significant! Although power was used to drive hot air, its consumption would be much less than that of normal air-conditioning. However, a prototype is not without possible improvements. One improvement could be streamlining the pipes for more effective cooling. Another improvement could be to use a water cycle to wet the clay pipes. If possible, we could use another type of material other than clay that is more effective in removing heat from the hot air passing through. Ant Studio's invention seems to hold huge promise for many tropical areas. As a team, we hope that our projects could hit the ground running for bigger and more meaningful projects that aim for a greener future. Thank you for reading!
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