Cromer Cycle Air Conditioner: A Unique Air-Conditioner Desiccant Cycle to Enhance Dehumidification and Save Energy

The Cromer cycle uses a desiccant to move moisture from the saturated air leaving an air conditioning (AC) cooling coil to the air returning to the AC unit from the conditioned space. This has the thermodynamic effect of reducing the overall energy consumption of the AC unit and also has the side benefit of dramatically increasing the moisture removal capacity of the AC coil. Simulations, engineering analysis and laboratory tests have confirmed the technical feasibility of the thermodynamics of the cycle. This work reports on a test at ARI conditions (95 deg. F outside, 80 deg F, 51% RH inside). The test unit (10 year old, 5 ton Bryant Air Conditioner) without the Cromer cycle, averaged an EER of 7.93 at a latent ratio of 26.2 % (SHR = 0.738). With the Cromer cycle added, the same unit averaged a total cooling EER of 11.82 with a water removal latent ratio of 53.4% (SHR= 0.466). The measured 16.4% reduction in energy use and 47.9 improvement in EER is significant for the tests at the 95% confidence level. This technology represents a major improvement in energy performance for the control of humidity conditions

Cromer Cycle Air Conditioner: A Study to Confirm Target Performance

The Cromer cycle uses a desiccant wheel operating in conjunction with a typical air conditioning system. Simulations and laboratory prototypes demonstrate that the cycle has the potential for enhanced humidity control with sensible heat ratios as low as 40% and with far less energy use than other humidity control strategies. The research of this paper includes the purchase of “off the shelf” materials and the assembly of a working residential sized Cromer cycle desiccant air conditioning system. A desiccant wheel was retrofitted on an existing operational two and one half ton air conditioning system within an occupied residence in Cocoa Beach, Florida to validate the energy reduction targets and humidity control performance of this new technology. The unit was constructed and installed during the winter months of 2000. The monitoring for energy and dehumidification performance presented in this paper took place in the Spring of 2001. The unit was installed and removed so that performance data “with” and “without” the Cromer cycle was obtained for comparison. Performance data on the AC unit were acquired using the air-enthalpy method of ARI/ASHRAE test procedures with data recorded on Campbell Scientific CR-10 data acquisition system and downloaded to computer for analysis. The Cromer cycle system provided a three fold increase in moisture control capacity with a 4% reduction in energy use at the conditions tested

A Study to Determine the Energy Impact of Adding Polarshield to Air Conditioning Systems

PolarShield is a polarized refrigerant compressor oil additive containing the a-olefin molecule which is a commonly used oil additive to reduce high pressure viscosity breakdown. The manufacturers of this air conditioner compressor oil additive (COA) claim significant energy savings as a result of using their product. The objective of this study was the evaluation of the potential kWh savings that would result from the addition of an a-olefin molecule COA such as PolarShield to an air conditioner unit operating under typical hot outdoor conditions (95 degrees F). The test was operated in a “before” - “after” manner with each before-after segment operated for twelve days and three tests were conducted - one on a new 2.5 ton system where 1.25 oz. COA was added, one on a 5 ton older unit where 2.5 oz. COA was added, and a third on the same 5 ton unit where an additional 2.5 oz. COA was added to total 5.0 oz added to the system. The heat and humidity loads were carefully held constant for the before and after time periods, and the air conditioner equipment was allowed to cycle on its thermostat to meet the loads and maintain a stable indoor condition. The results of this series of tests showed no energy savings when the PolarShield COA was used

A general method to eliminate laboratory induced recombinants during massive, parallel sequencing of cDNA library.

Massive, parallel sequencing is a potent tool for dissecting the regulation of biological processes by revealing the dynamics of the cellular RNA profile under different conditions. Similarly, massive, parallel sequencing can be used to reveal the complexity of viral quasispecies that are often found in the RNA virus infected host. However, the production of cDNA libraries for next-generation sequencing (NGS) necessitates the reverse transcription of RNA into cDNA and the amplification of the cDNA template using PCR, which may introduce artefact in the form of phantom nucleic acids species that can bias the composition and interpretation of original RNA profiles

Design, synthesis, and subtype selectivity of 3,6-disubstituted b-carbolines at Bz/GABA(A)ergic receptors. SAR and studies directed toward agents for treatment of alcohol abuse

A series of 3,6-disubstituted ß-carbolines was synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro affinities at axß3V2 GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor subtypes by radioligand binding assays in search of a1 subtype selective ligands to treat alcohol abuse. Analogues of ß-carboline-3-carboxylate-t-butyl ester (ßCCt, 1) were synthesized via a CDI-mediated process and the related 6-substituted ß-carboline-3-carboxylates 6 including WYS8 (7) were synthesized via a Sonogashira or Stille coupling processes from 6-iodo-ßCCt (5). The bivalent ligands of ßCCt (32 and 33) were also designed and prepared via a palladium-catalyzed homocoupling process to expand the structure-activity relationships (SAR) to larger ligands

Design of ultra-swollen lipidic mesophases for the crystallization of membrane proteins with large extracellular domains

In meso crystallization of membrane proteins from lipidic mesophases is central to protein structural biology but limited to membrane proteins with small extracellular domains (ECDs), comparable to the water channels (3-5 nm) of the mesophase. Here we present a strategy expanding the scope of in meso crystallization to membrane proteins with very large ECDs. We combine monoacylglycerols and phospholipids to design thermodynamically stable ultra-swollen bicontinuous cubic phases of double-gyroid (Ia3d), double-diamond (Pn3m), and double-primitive (Im3m) space groups, with water channels five times larger than traditional lipidic mesophases, and showing re-entrant behavior upon increasing hydration, of sequences Ia3d?Pn3m?Ia3d and Pn3m?Im3m?Pn3m, unknown in lipid self-assembly. We use these mesophases to crystallize membrane proteins with ECDs inaccessible to conventional in meso crystallization, demonstrating the methodology on the Gloeobacter ligand-gated ion channel (GLIC) protein, and show substantial modulation of packing, molecular contacts and activation state of the ensued proteins crystals, illuminating a general strategy in protein structural biology

Reading sentences with a late closure ambiguity: does semantic information help?

Stowe (1989) reported that semantic information eliminates garden paths in sentences with the direct-object vs. subject ambiguity, such as Even before the police stopped the driver was very frightened. Three experiments are presented which addressed some methodological problems in Stowe's study. Experiment 1, using a word-by-word, self-paced reading task with grammaticality judgements, manipulated animacy of the first subject noun while controlling for the plausibility of the transitive action. The results suggest that initial sentence analysis is not guided by animacy. Experiment 2 and 3, using the self-paced task with grammaticality judgements and eye-tracking, varied the plausibility of the direct-object nouns to test revision effects. Plausibility was found to facilitate revision without fully eliminating garden paths, in line with various revision models. The findings support the view of a sentence processing system relying heavily on syntactic information, with semantic information playing a weaker role both in initial analysis and during revision, thus supporting serial, syntax-first models and ranked-parallel models relying on structural criteria

Large meta-analysis of multiple cancers reveals a common, compact and highly prognostic hypoxia metagene

BACKGROUND: There is a need to develop robust and clinically applicable gene expression signatures. Hypoxia is a key factor promoting solid tumour progression and resistance to therapy; a hypoxia signature has the potential to be not only prognostic but also to predict benefit from particular interventions. METHODS: An approach for deriving signatures that combine knowledge of gene function and analysis of in vivo co-expression patterns was used to define a common hypoxia signature from three head and neck and five breast cancer studies. Previously validated hypoxia-regulated genes (seeds) were used to generate hypoxia co-expression cancer networks. RESULTS: A common hypoxia signature, or metagene, was derived by selecting genes that were consistently co-expressed with the hypoxia seeds in multiple cancers. This was highly enriched for hypoxia-regulated pathways, and prognostic in multivariate analyses. Genes with the highest connectivity were also the most prognostic, and a reduced metagene consisting of a small number of top-ranked genes, including VEGFA, SLC2A1 and PGAM1, outperformed both a larger signature and reported signatures in independent data sets of head and neck, breast and lung cancers. CONCLUSION: Combined knowledge of multiple genes' function from in vitro experiments together with meta-analysis of multiple cancers can deliver compact and robust signatures suitable for clinical application