Low Cost Heat Pump Water Heaters

Transcription

1 Low Cost Heat Pump Water Heaters Oct 5, 2013 Austin, TX Presentation at ACEEE Conf. Atlanta, GA

2 Thermoelectric (TE) Technology Solid State Energy Conversion COOLING MODE cold I hot hot POWER GENERATION I cold Increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost are the main challenges September

3 Introduction to Sheetak Leader in core thermoelectric materials, devices and systems Founded in full time & 4 part time employees 7 PhDs from UT Austin, Cornell, ASU, Purdue etc. Have experience in commercialization of technology & company exit Invested $10M in the facility and technology development Portfolio of 25 issued/pending patents Strategy is to partner with one or two customers in each application and co-develop unique products Nov

4 Core Technologies HIE FLO-TE High Efficiency Thermoelectric Modules Nanostructured, Low Cost TEC ZT=1.5 TE+Fluidics High COP operation High Efficiency Thermoelectric System High performance TE for Cooling, Heating and Generation Nov

5 Commercialized Products World s lowest cost refrigerators New Business Models in Emerging Markets, Jan- Feb 2011 Weaving the World Together, Nov 19, 2011 Indian Firms Shift Focus to the Poor, Oct 21, 2009 Green water coolers for US and EU Nov

6 Traditional Bulk TE Poor efficiency and high ~$0.25/W for cooling Costly Te-rich materials Unreliable Bi-Sn solder joints Static technology, no significant development in 30 years PTE Picked & Placed TEC 2 f Boule NTE Dicing Soldered on Alumina substrates Nov

7 Sheetak Thin Film TE Doubling of efficiency by managing heat flux and reducing interface losses 10-fold reduction in cost and 10,000- fold reduction in TE materials usage Fabrication leverages established semiconductor wafer batch processes Cooling Engine Module 6 Ni foil PVD, CVD Diced TE 16-Couple Metal nanoparticles Surface Array + Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te mm Nov

8 Best TE Films Optimized Bi-Sb-Te and SKD films CTE matched films to metal substrates and contact metallizations Nanostructured grains High power factors and ZT > 1.5 between -50 C C for Bi-Sb-Te films and C for SKD 3 mm Metal nanoparticles and 6-layer Bi-Sb-Te and Bi-Te n-skutterudite films Nov

9 Water Heater Application objective: Demonstrate Low Cost Heat Pump Water Heater Accomplishments: Developed analytical models Designed and characterized components Fabricated, assembled, a scaled (70L) prototype Demonstrated a COP of 2.2 Developed relationships with supply chain Nov

10 Value Proposition Basic Concept Pump heat from ambient using TECs Combination of high heating rate and high COP Nov

11 Prototype Water Heater Created a scaled water heater prototype 67 L total water volume Uses four TE engines Vertically mounted Internal partition to create chimney effect Target heating rate is ~ 800 W of heat pumped in water Uninsulated water heater Insulated and instrumented water heater Nov

12 System Characterization I TEC = 4.5 A I TEC = 3.0 A Data monitored over 10 hours Extensive characterization performed I TEC = 6.0 A Nov

13 COP Heating Q Q water ambient ( W ) ( W ) Q electrical ( W ) COP heating Q Q water electrical ( W ) ( W ) Q ambient is the heat pumped from the Ambient. Q electrical includes the power consumed by the fans. I TEC = 3A results in highest COP Nov

14 Modular Designs User selectable choice of breakdown between heat pumping vs. resistive heating Continuum of performance (COP) and pricepoint Current cost estimates for thermal HW for a 4 Engine (800W heat pump) 50G product is at $70 Can do heat pumping up to 1600 W Nov

15 Retail Price ($) Energy Factor (EF) Modular Designs Modular design with choice of heat pumping: e.g. 4 vs 8 engines Almost all components common Allows a product portfolio to cater to broader customer base Margin $600 Cost EF $500 $400 $300 $200 $100 $- Baseline 4 Engines 8 Engines Compelling product High heating capacity Low electric bill Pay back period 2 yrs Utility rebate may make it cheaper than baseline Nov

16 FLO-TE Breakthrough systems technology for phonon-blocking in TE engines using coupled fluid flow Operating at high efficiencies > 50% of Carnot Freedom from ZT-centric paradigms No detrimental effect on electron transport Rejects larger fraction of Joule heat to hot side Possible unipolar thermoelectrics Nov

17 FLO-TE Heaters Fluid Flow Suppresses Thermal Conduction in TE Perforated Thin Film TE Layers Nov

18 FLO-TE Ultra-Efficient Heaters COP > 4 (for DT = 30 C) No limitation on high temperature operation No moving parts- Reliable, Quiet No refrigerant (zero GWP) Modular & Extendible to air heating and industrial water heating WATER HEATERS Heat Pump Nov

19 Cost Water Heating Options $1250 Conventional Options Large Gap in Performance & Prices Heat Pump Water Heaters Expensive Fits > 50 G Tanks $1000 FLO-TE Heat Pump $500 $250 Resistive Heater TEC Heat Pump Sheetak Technologies Low Cost, High performance Scalable to Small & Big Sizes COP Nov

20 Water Heating Market Sheetak Business Model TEC FLO-TE Sell TE to existing market players Develop System Technology to license Sell TEC/TEG Develop complete systems using FLO- TE for selected applications Sell Modules Focus on core TEC/Systems leadership Partnership with anchor customer in each segment Flexible March 2013 Sheetak Confidential 20

21 Summary Innovative solid state heat pump technology High performance, low cost, modular, scalable Multiple SKUs along price performance continuum Zero GWP, no moving parts, quiet, reliable Many non-traditional or combination products possible Nov