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Revolutionary Heat Pump Design Good for 10,000 years, here in five!
Today, according to experts, most heat pumps only have a durability of 15-25 years, but researchers at the University of Stavanger in Norway (USN) and the University of Oslo believe that they have developed a new heat pump that will last up to 10,000 years! The new heat pump is comprised of many miniature heat pumps, as small as one cubic millimeter(cmm3), that can be arranged in an array to create a larger unit that can be tall and thin or short and wide, offering super flexible modularity for application in any area of a building.
“The most important advantage of the new heat pump is that you can regulate its size and form and that it is much more durable than heat pumps are today. It is also more environmentally friendly,” PhD. Physics and Chief Engineer at USN, Jan Kåre Bording reported.
The new pump is not only very flexible in application, allowing it to be installed in virtually any part of a building, but its green factor is extended further as it features a thermo-electric system which removes the need for toxic puron or freon gas to run. The pumps also boast a longer durable life as compared to today’s heat pumps, proving to be a huge cost advantage as maintenance costs will also be reduced in the long-term. Currently, existing heat pumps start to deteriorate after the first year of use, and require frequent inspection thereafter until the pump completely fails.
According to the researchers above, the heat pump will be ready to launch on the market within five years in Europe, and seven years in the U.S., due to slow adoption of new technology there.
Good news: Science News about new heat pump
Comment
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Comment by Tom Delconte on February 20, 2013 at 8:07am -
Forgot to mention that the full-size heat exchange fans will have to be replaced in x(25?)years. This is a practical technology that works, and will come to the U.S. in 7 to 10 years, so it's not worth changing a conventional heat pump right now, just maintain it.
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Comment by Joseph Lamy on February 18, 2013 at 11:41am -
Well Dang! I just got my mini-split installed. and here they're coming out with one so adaptable that mine is gonna get obsolesced! Yahoo!
And these splits have been in Euro and Asian homes for a few decades now and finally beginning to make a few inroads towards acceptance in the American market. What's so slow about a few decades behind? C'mon, we're Americans. I think it's the snake-oil push-back from earlier 'discoveries' that sours us on progress.
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Comment by Curt Kinder on February 17, 2013 at 4:05pm -
I agree, but I thought the bit about a heat pump lasting 10,000 years quite a bit rich.
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Comment by Bud Poll on February 17, 2013 at 3:35pm -
Hi Curt,
I remember my brother at IBM talking about sewing thin wires through the ferrite doughnuts on magnetic core memory units. I'm glad they didn't give up. That's not to say that many ideas never reach their optimistic goals, but if we (or someone) never tries then failure is certain.
When I started, engineers used a slide rule or keypunched ridiculously tiny programs onto punch cards to be processed by one of the few mainframe computers available at the time. Yet technology advanced. Today, engineers stand on the shoulders of thousands who came before them using technology a million fold more advanced. When you add up all of the multipliers, more people, more education, more technology, and instant communications, one doesn't have to be optimistic about what the future will bring, just patient.
Bud
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Comment by Curt Kinder on February 17, 2013 at 3:15pm
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Thermoelectric effect has been known since 1800s, and consumer devices using it have been around for decades. Obvious advantage is lack of moving parts. Main disadvantage is efficiency a small fraction of conventional vapor compression refrigeration cycles.
Unless the researchers have somehow managed to multiply the efficiency by 5 or better, this is not news.
Perhaps in 5 years someone will have managed such an efficiency increase.
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Comment by Bud Poll on February 17, 2013 at 2:18pm
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Thanks Tom,
I guess I'm a bit optimistic, having worked in research before the personal computer age. Back then few could have imagined what we have today. It will be interesting to watch and see what 5 years does for this technology.
Bud
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Comment by Curt Kinder on February 15, 2013 at 5:59am
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I wonder if we have confused holidays...
Today is Valentine's Day, April 1st is the day for jokes.
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