Environmental Control Unit with Integral Thermal Storage

Abstract : As part of an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) evaluated an Environmental Control Unit (ECU) that uses an integrated PCM Heat Exchanger (PHX) to provide thermal energy storage. By storing thermal energy during the hottest part of the day and rejecting this stored energy during the coolest part of the day, the PHX can reduce the power consumption of an ECU by up to 10% over a 24 hour period. The PHX was demonstrated at ACT's laboratory using a low fidelity prototype.