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  • Author Author: Alistair
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Cool Wave - The Heat Reduction Concept

Alistair
Image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (via climate.gov)

Cool Wave - The Heat Reduction Concept

So, what is my idea and why is it appropriate for the Summer of Green Tech design challenge? In short, it is a smart ventilation system. A system that is simple in design but an effective way to help mitigate heat waves.

The temperature of the planet is rising and according to the UK Met Office’s “Effects of climate change” documents we are expecting more heat waves to hit us in the coming years. According to the recent World Health Organisation report "Improving public health responses to extreme weather/heat-waves : EuroHEAT" more than 44,000 additional deaths were recorded in August 2003 across 12 European countries. This is just one month and 12 countries, and does not consider the other social and environmental impacts this heat is having.

Some see the solution as using air conditioning to reduce the inside temperature, however this uses more energy, creates more CO2 emissions, and exacerbates the situation further. This is not a good solution. This is a bad solution.

Image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (via climate.gov)

Fortunately there are still cooler times at night when the temperature falls. It is still hot, but not dangerously hot, and more importantly it is colder outside than inside. This is the time to open the windows and cool down the inside. The trouble is this is when we are asleep and the time changes based on the weather at the time.

This is where my idea comes in. It is a simple ventilation system that can be inserted into an open window, or attached to an air brick or vent, and when the air is cooler outside the house it turns on and creates an airflow through the property to reduce the inside temperature. When the outside temperature rises again it turns off until it is needed the following night.

It is not rocket science, but it is effective, and the more simple we can make it to build and operate the more likely it is to be used, and the better the world will be. My hope is I can make the design flexible enough so a variety of old parts can be used to make it, but defined enough that most people could build one. Let’s see how I get on.

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  • About 20 years ago I tried something similar using low-cost 4" duct fans (like you get for a shower cubical) and fitting them into existing wall vents to try and push/pull the air through to get it circulating more but without too much noise.

    I didn't have quite the same access to low cost microcontroller modules back then, so will be interesting to see how you get on.

    If you can control air vents and blinds whilst monitoring multiple temperature sensors throughout the building you may be able to do more. e.g. during the day close the blinds on the sunny side, and open vents on the shaded sided while the air is still cooler outside.

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    That is interesting to know. What kind of a result did you get?

    These kind of things have become so much easer with modern microcontrollers and the ease of access to some quite advanced modules. I am still trying to keep things simple. This is not a solution to save the world on it's own, just to make life a little bet better for everyone without making the problem worse. Making it available to everyone is also important to me as it is a problem that everyone will face but only the wealthy can afford to circumvent.

  • in reply to Alistair

    I had mixed results but part of that was due to not having a controlled set-up or the means to sufficiently log data for analysis. Also I was focusing more on the daytime aspect rather than night-time. In the evenings though the fans did appear to cool the room more quickly and leaving them running overnight did result in a much cooler room in the morning than without them.

    The positions of the available external vents were fixed so I wasn't able to expel trapped hot air from the ceiling allowing cooler air to be pulled in from outside which may have worked better than using the two existing vents below the windowsill. If I had been lying down at the height of the vents, then it may have been more beneficial.

    The whole building was very hot so any air moving from elsewhere in the building into the room as part of the extraction efforts would just end up pulling more hot air in, defeating the objective.

    The duct fans sounded like they were having to fight against the airflow outside a lot of the time so not sure how much air was actually flowing in which direction.

    If I had been able to monitor temperature and air flow better, then it probably would have helped guide me to improve the setup.

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  • in reply to Alistair

    I had mixed results but part of that was due to not having a controlled set-up or the means to sufficiently log data for analysis. Also I was focusing more on the daytime aspect rather than night-time. In the evenings though the fans did appear to cool the room more quickly and leaving them running overnight did result in a much cooler room in the morning than without them.

    The positions of the available external vents were fixed so I wasn't able to expel trapped hot air from the ceiling allowing cooler air to be pulled in from outside which may have worked better than using the two existing vents below the windowsill. If I had been lying down at the height of the vents, then it may have been more beneficial.

    The whole building was very hot so any air moving from elsewhere in the building into the room as part of the extraction efforts would just end up pulling more hot air in, defeating the objective.

    The duct fans sounded like they were having to fight against the airflow outside a lot of the time so not sure how much air was actually flowing in which direction.

    If I had been able to monitor temperature and air flow better, then it probably would have helped guide me to improve the setup.

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