Requested research

Literature review: Provide a global overview of existing solar-driven machines, tools, and devices worldwide, with a focus on low-tech and passive energy solutions.

System design: Develop a line of solar-driven technologies suitable for small-scale households or office settings in hot and humid tropical regions.

Integrated solutions: Create systems that can heat water, cool indoor temperatures, and dehumidify the indoor climate, preferably in an all-in-one device.

Practical application: Ensure designs are simple, low-cost, low-maintenance, and efficient, using parts and components that are locally available, which can be installed and maintained on-site by people with minimal technical knowledge.

Background: passive solar solutions

As early as 1878, French inventor Augustin Mouchot demonstrated the potential of solar energy by producing ice with a solar dish, connected to an absorption machine by Edmond Carré. The principle of absorption cooling is still used today, along with other chemically driven cooling technologies such as solid and liquid desiccant cooling. What these approaches share is the use of solar heat as the external energy source.

In recent years, the affordability and value of solar heating and cooling technologies have become increasingly clear. Research continues into thermally driven systems, including absorption chillers, sorption rotors, evaporation coolers, and desiccant-based systems.

This project aims to combine such concepts into one device that relies mainly on passive energy, offering an environmentally friendly contribution to climate change adaptation. This research further aims to scale up the device and enlarge its output. Ideally, the system will also integrate dehumidification, making it particularly relevant for hot and humid environments.

Further action

This project is part of a broader effort to integrate nature-based solutions into our living environment, which also includes the development of low-velocity wind solutions and strategies to “design water, nature and energy in”.

Interested? For more information or to set up a meeting, possibly as a final-year thesis opportunity, send us an email. We’d be happy to discuss how you can contribute to this important research area.