Entry Title: "
eVap 1000"
Company:
Cannon Design
,
United States
Category: Professional, Product
Designer(s): Christopher Whitcomb
Entry Description:
eVap 1000
The eVap 1000 is an environmentally sound, inexpensive, simple, safe and flexible device that has proven both to be extremely popular among research laboratories nationwide and to conserve millions of gallons of water per year. The device responds to the issue laboratories face as they need to constantly cool the condensers and other heat producing pieces of equipment they house. The previous conventional approach to cooling had been the direction of a steady flow of cold tap water from the laboratory faucet to the object to be cooled using simple rubber tubing, and the subsequent discharge of the used fluid down the drain.
This method (used by universities, R&D organizations and government research agencies worldwide) has two major drawbacks. First, the system wastes a massive amount of potable fresh water. If an experiment draws one gallon of water every two minutes, that same experiment will consume 720 gallons over the course of a day or 262,800 gallons per year enough to fill an entire city water tower. Multiplying this sum by the number of experiments conducted in laboratories worldwide yields a truly staggering water-consumption figure. A second problem associated with this cooling method is the substantial property damage that results from flooding if fluctuations in water pressure cause the rubber tubing to detach from the faucet when unsupervised during off hours.
The eVap 1000 offers a solution that eliminates these problems as it serves as an interface between the high pressure cooling system and the lower-pressure water required for laboratory applications. Cold water from the buildings chilled-water system enters the unit through high-pressure hoses of sufficient strength to contain the pressurized water. In a separate closed loop, about three liters of water at a much lower pressure circulate continuously from the heat-exchanging unit through rubber tubing into the laboratory for use in experiment or equipment cooling. The units plate and frame design uses metal plates to cool the laboratory water, transferring heat from this water via the plates into the buildings chilled-water supply. The two volumes of water remain completely separate.
Its also a simple solution in that most research buildings are already cooled by a system of pipes filled with chilled water supplied by a centralized chiller system. Standard laboratory rubber tubing cannot handle this highly pressurized water source, but the eVap 1000 unit safely harnesses the cooling power of the highly efficient building system for laboratory use in a different way.
The eVap 1000 displays excellence in environmental sustainability on a number of levels. First, it is proven to conserve millions of gallons of water per year while preventing costly flooding of laboratories, damage to critical equipment and experiments. The device consumes as little as 1/10 of the total system electricity required by similarly-packaged chiller units. The device is also portable and thus one unit can service multiple lab stations, eliminating the need to purchase multiple devices. Equally important to a sustainable future, eVap 1000 diverts laboratory waste from municipal waste water treatment facilities, reducing energy demand and improving the environment.
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