Green aircon prototype seen finished by May

MANILA, Philippines — The commercial prototype of the “green” airconditioner invented by a former Philippine Science High School-Bicol region campus coed and now freshman at De La Salle University (DLSU) is to be finished in May.

Maria Yzabel Angel Palma, 19, a mechanical engineering major in DLSU-Manila, said the startup firm in Naga City led by her father Bernardo Angel Palma – himself a DLSU mechanical engineering graduate – has been working on the commercial prototype and had set the deadline.

In the meantime, she said talks with two manufacturing firms in the country and three other countries in Asia and Australia are ongoing.

She said that they plan to enter into licensing agreements with two manufacturing companies in the Philippines, and one in the three other Asian countries as well as in Australia for the manufacture and sale of the AirDisc airconditioners, with their company getting royalties from each unit sold.

Palma said that they plan to pilot launch the AirDisc green airconditioner in the initial five countries, and later expand to the Middle East and the United States.

The AirDisc developed by Palma when she was a Grade 12 student at PSHS-Bicol is an energy-efficient air-conditioner that could revolutionize the way homes are cooled and leaves virtually no carbon footprint.

The technology uses a disc-shaped compressor based on low compression pressure and high volume of air molecules as refrigerant. It features a centrifugal compressor that uses rotating concentric air tanks with inlets that continuously take in enough air molecules from a room for compression.

The generated heat from the compression of air is separated and thrown out to the atmosphere while the resultant compressed air molecules with less heat are allowed to expand. This process effectively lowers the room temperature continuously.

The current air-conditioning systems use piston or rotary compressors with pressure and low volume with the harmful hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as the medium of cooling.

Palma developed the revolutionary system of cooling as her research project when she was in senior year. Her invention of the AirDisc was “accidental” as she had started working on an eco-friendly oven concept for her research subject when she was in Grade 10.

Palma is excited with the potential of her AirDisc technology to become the preferred airconditioning option for homes and offices, not just in the Philippines but in other countries.

“One of the advantages of AirDisc is that it only uses 350 watts of power consumption, compared to 1,200 watt power consumption of the traditional airconditioners,” she said.

Palma said the prototype they will manufacture commercially was further improved.

“The prototype I researched on used 350 watts but the commercial prototype that will be available in the market will only be 150 watts,” she said.

Palma stressed the AirDisc also does not use freon for cooling, meaning it dispenses with harmful emission of HFCs into the atmosphere.