With the growing woes of electricity costs in South Africa, engineering professional services consulting firm WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff believes that it is imperative to keep up with air-conditioning technology trends that promote energy efficiency and ease of maintenance.
WSP technical director Pieter de Bod points out that WSP has been using heat recovery technology in its air-conditioning systems to reduce running and capital costs.
“We use heat recovery technology as it provides a special configuration of heat exchange between various air-conditioning equipment to save on operating costs.”
Since 2004, De Bod has been using heat recovery wheels on most of his projects. He notes that the wheels have a honeycomb structure, with holes about 1 mm in diameter. They are coated with a heat-retentive material such as silica gel, which has micropores ranging from 3 to 100 Angstrom and high absorption capacity. It absorbs moisture and odour molecules because of its strong hydrophilic characteristics. This means that smaller electrical supplies are needed to provide power for the air conditioner.
Lately, WSP has been recommending trigeneration power plant technology, which involves a sophisticated air-conditioning system that is powered by natural gas.
Denne historien er fra February 24, 2017-utgaven av Engineering News.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 24, 2017-utgaven av Engineering News.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Energy Efficiency & Management
Importance of energy efficiency highlighted at DoE conference.
Biofuels
Innovation earns company biofuels award.
Security Technology For Business
Power instability leads to security technology changes in South Africa.
Corridor Crowd-In
eThekwini seeks private investment around public­transport corridor.
Taking Off
Fourteen airport rail links planned in Africa, including two more in SA.
New gas projects will be economical – Aurecon
With two major gas-to-power projects under way in the country, consulting company Aurecon believes that the two, possibly three, gas power stations associated with the projects can be economical as existing infrastructure can be used to support them.
Construction to continue at Kathu
Next year, global engineering and technology company Sener will continue to provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for the 100 MW Kathu concentrated solar power (CSP) project in South Africa’s Northern Cape, in conjunction with its joint venture partner Acciona.
Transformative
Meeting 60% local content goal would transform economy, create 49 000 jobs.
Control And Instrumentation Play Rugged Role In Industry
The uptake of new infor-mation technology (IT) in industrial automation has traditionally been at a slower rate compared with that of the broader information and communication technology (ICT) sector, says the Society for Automation Instrumentation, Measurements and Control (SAIMC) professional services portfolio head Petrus Klopper.
Sewer Manual To Be Published Next Month
Plastic pipes manufacturer DPI Plastics will publish its comprehensive sewer product manual next month that provides detailed information on its range of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe applications and installations in the sewage and effluent sector.