Overcoming Oil Fouling and Increasing Heat Transfer through Nucleo Molecular Regenerative Technology
The application of Nucleo Molecular Regenerative Technology™ (NMR™) fits in-line with any company’s goal of making near-term, measurable improvements to energy conservation and carbon footprint reduction in its HVAC systems.
The NMR™ Technology product line makes any air conditioner in service produce colder air. Producing colder air allows the system to use less kWh over time because the system can overcome heat faster and reach a thermostat setting faster. There are no better savings than equipment cycling off for direct exchange systems or in chiller plants running at less load. The following is a brief on how this is achieved using the unique NMR™ nanotechnology.
Concept of operations for the proposed technology
As refrigeration and HVAC systems age they lose efficiency. Most HVAC technicians understand this and use common techniques to discover lost efficiencies. HVAC technicians often check the cooling output, using Delta T to determine if the unit is operating at design efficiency. In larger water cooled systems (chillers) Coefficient Of Performance (COP) is measured along with other factors to determine system efficiency.
It is important to understand that maintenance on these systems is critical. Maintenance is critical because when a system is not operating at its design efficiency it:
1) Runs longer.
2) Uses more power (kWh).
3) Breaks sooner because it runs longer.
All three factors increase the actual dollar cost of running and maintaining the HVAC system.
When a system loses Delta T or COP it costs the organization money. All systems lose efficiency naturally and this has been a design flaw that the engineering community has accepted because there were no options to solve it until NMR™ Technology was invented. NMR™ Technology simply lets the system make colder air; any system at any age. DX and water cooled chillers.
The efficiency reduction is evident in all forms of refrigeration where:
1) A compressor is used to compress a refrigerant.
2) Oil is used to lubricate the compressor.
3) A coil system is used to capture and extract heat.
99 percent of all refrigeration applications use these three elements in their design.
A significant reduction in efficiency is evident in these systems as they age. This reduction is caused by the oil leaking into the coil system during the compression stroke or by circulating the oil by design in larger chiller systems.
This migration of oil fouls the coil system causing a thermo conductive barrier to efficient heat transfer. This thermo conductive barrier, “interior dirty coils” cause 30 percent or greater energy use in the refrigeration or HVAC system as it ages. It is estimated within the first five years any refrigeration system has lost 30 percent of its efficiency due to oil migration.
HVAC manufactures have designed and are producing oil free chillers because they recognize the design problem and have no alternatives to solve the efficiency loss. Unfortunately for the industry these oil-free chillers are very expensive and represent a very small percentage of machinery in use.
Additionally, “interior dirty coils” cause the system to work harder to achieve the same job, causing the unit to run longer to achieve a set temperature. This extended runtime causes refrigeration and HVAC equipment to break more frequently and increases maintenance costs while reducing the life of the equipment.
The NMR™ Technology is a U.S. Patented product that eliminates the effects of oil migration and fouling. NMR™ Technology is compatible with all refrigerants systems including ammonia systems.
NMR™ Technology DOES NOT increase the designed system performance of the refrigeration or HVAC system, but rather keeps the system performing to its design specification by keeping it internally clean. HVAC systems operate in sealed closed environments. If it was possible to disassemble the units and manually clean the same effect would be achieved.
Because manually cleaning the system is not possible NMR Technology is the only patented and commercially proven product that can solve this problem effectively. More information is available at;
Benefits anticipated should the technology be implemented, including estimated return on investment;
1) Cleans the internal coil surfaces by preventing compressor oil from attaching to the internal surfaces of the coil using displacement technology, eliminating the thermo conductive heat barrier
2) NMR Technology increases the lubricity of the oil and refrigerant in the refrigeration or HVAC system giving the moving parts better lubrication by treating the surface of the metals and extending the life of the equipment.
3) NMR Technology increases the thermo-conductivity of the metal surfaces by permeating the surfaces of the metals and filling the space lattice of the metals, thereby increasing its density and thermo-conductive properties
4) Increases refrigerant flow by reducing surface friction in the coil, requiring less energy of the compressor to push the refrigerant
5) Prevents corrosion of the system through protection of the metal surfaces
6) Allows the system to achieve set temperature faster, reduces runtime, and produces colder dryer air
The product is installed in currently operating systems, where it is injected into the low pressure port of the refrigerator or HVAC unit or oil sump in a chiller. There is no down time needed or required for installation.
Past Performance and corporate experience
NMR™ Technology is in use worldwide in several publicly traded companies that maintain the most energy efficient buildings in the world: ANZ bank, and Investa Group, Whitney National Bank, CITI and Honeywell.
NMR™ Technology is the only patented and commercially proven technology on the market that solves the specific problem of oil-fouling while increasing the thermo-conductive properties of metal resulting in double digit energy (kWh) savings.
Written by Gary Hartman, Vice President of Distribution and Project Management of Powertron Global, the inventors of NMR nanotechnology.
Tags: carbon footprint reduction, Coefficient of Performance, coil system, COP, energy conservation, Gary Hartman, HVAC systems, interior dirty coils, NMR, Nucleo Molecular Regenerative Technology, oil fouls, Powertron Global, system efficiency