Air to Water Generator Integrated Systems: The Proposal of a Global Evaluation Index—GEI Formulation and Application Examples

Lucia Cattani, Paolo Cattani and Anna Magrini
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Lucia Cattani: SEAS SA, Société de l’Eau Aérienne Suisse, Technical Office, Via dell’Industria 13/A, 6826 Riva San Vitale, Switzerland
Paolo Cattani: Freelancer Engineer and Developer, Via Piermarini 4/L, 26900 Lodi, Italy
Anna Magrini: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: Due to water scarcity, in the last few decades, air-to-water generator (AWG) technology, whose useful effect is the extraction of water from air, has been improved. In particular, in the last few years, advanced AWG integrated systems have been developed. Such systems permit, not only to condense water from air, but also the smart use of the by-side effects of the process in order to partially or totally cover the heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) needs of a building. Presently, there are no evaluation tools that permit a complete comparison among AWG machines, taking into account all the useful effects that can be obtained at the same time and with the same energy input. The current work, starting from the need for such a tool, proposes a global index whose formulation considers all useful effects of an integrated system, the energy required to obtain them, and the integration degree of the machine. The index translates into a single number the system global efficiency, by means of a particular combination of existing efficiency indicators. In its extended formulation, it can be applied, not only to AWGs, but also to other HVAC integrated systems, as well as to combinations of non-integrated and integrated solutions. In addition to equations, the paper provides calculation examples and a case study in order to show the practical application and advantages of GEI.

Keywords: atmospheric water condensation; air-to-water technology; water extraction efficiency; energy efficiency ratio; coefficient of performance; water energy transformation; refrigeration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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