News Products

Cooling solution doubles as installation art

The Panasonic Corporation, in collaboration with Obuchi Laboratory from Advanced Design Studies at the Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo (T_ADS Obuchi Lab), has conducted a field test to assess the effectiveness of its Green AC Flex innovation both as an outdoor air cooling solution and as installation art.

In a world first, the trial demonstrated the use of two-fluid mist nozzles in the Green AC Flex that emit an ultra-fine dry mist to produce spatial art while achieving a perceived temperature drop as an outdoor cooling installation.

The Green AC Flex features a two-fluid nozzle design that is capable of spraying fine mist by mixing air and water. It produces finer particles than a one-fluid nozzle that sprays only water.

Even at close range, people exposed to the ultra-fine dry mist barely feel the wetness. The microscopic particles of the mist remove heat from the skin when evaporating, which provides the cooling sensation while removing heat in the air to lower the temperature.

Since it only requires tap water and a power supply to set up, the Green AC Flex is suitable for use as a temporary outdoor installation and for short-term events.

The field test was also conducted to assess the ability of the super-fine dry mist technology to enable spatial presentation in the architecture and design field. This includes creating an installation art space in public facilities, featuring large-scale, mixed media construction with objects and/or devices.

Hoisted four metres above the ground, forty-five Green AC Flex mist nozzles were mounted on a three-dimensional aluminum truss frame structure and installed in the courtyard of the Swiss Embassy facility in Tokyo, Japan.

The large-capacity type of the Green AC Flex, which supports single-phase 200Vx4 power input – more power as compared to the conventional, single-phase 100V model – allows more connectable nozzles per unit, hence the mist can be sprayed more efficiently even in a wide open outdoor space.

The super fine mist particles were able to create artificial clouds within the frame structure. A test was carried out to assess the installation’s cooling effect by evaporation and the shading effect of the artificially created clouds of the mist. It found that the body surface temperature measured by a thermo-viewer had decreased by 3 to 4°C.

The difference in the body surface temperatures was based on the subject first measured outside the aluminum truss frame, and then upon entering the frame for two minutes during daytime on a sunny day (33°C).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.