The two companies have begun testing the use of plastic heat exchangers in desiccant air conditioners in high-salt and high-humidity environments, for controlling moisture levels for outside air to furnish required ventilation for building occupants.

Applied Building Technologies (ABT) Division of PowerCold’s wholly owned subsidiary Ultimate Comfort Systems has installed DuPont Caltrel® heat exchanger coils on systems in three buildings in Florida. These are the Don Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg, and the Elks Lodge and Mike’s Pizza and Deli in Largo.

The systems will be monitored by DuPont and Ultimate Comfort Systems to evaluate durability and efficiency. PowerCold and DuPont are expected to find the plastic heat exchanger coils equivalent in performance to the metal coils with respect to water flow, airflow, and heat transfer.

“We believe the test will lead to the development of new systems that could become an important part of PowerCold’s line of products in the future,” said PowerCold CEO Frank Simola.

Publication date: 02/03/2003