Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. announced further results of Energy Savings Tests on a 4.3kw refrigeration system and Heat Transfer demonstrations on Aluminium and Copper. The results provide additional confidence in the potential benefits of THERMAL-XR®? (TXR) in a range of applications.

In their ISO-approved facilities, GMG's testing partner Supercool Asia Pacific Pty Ltd. undertook two comparison tests to assess the impact of TXR in enhancing the operating efficiency of a cooling system. The equipment used in the tests was a new customised 4.3kW Refrigeration Unit with an electronic expansion valve with variability disabled. The pre-TXR-treated condenser coil had an existing industry standard coating, on which tests were run.

This condenser coil was then coated with TXR and the same tests were run again. The first comparison test conducted was a Pull Down Test which assessed the time and energy required to reach a set temperature of 20C in the heat controlled room with an initial set temperature of 300C, controlled constant humidity level, and an outdoor temperature of 350C. This simulates a typical cold storage room with traffic subject to heat losses and required to cool down on multiple occasions to the set temperature.

The quicker time to reach the set point cooling temperature, under the same conditions, highlights a reduction in energy consumption for the THERMAL-XR coated condenser coil. As seen in Table 1 the THERMAL-X R®? coated coil resulted in 15.7% Energy Savings and a 16.1% time savings for the Pull Down test.

Table 1: Pull Downtime and energy consumed prior to and post TXR coating. The second comparison test was an uninterrupted 48-hour Temperature Cycle test. This tests the impact of TXR on maintaining a constant set point temperature (for example where there is no periodic access to a cool room).

The test measured the energy required over a 48-hour period to keep a cooling set temperature of 20C in a heat-controlled room with an outside temperature of 350C and controlled constant humidity level. The lower amount of energy required by the THERMAL-XR® coated unit, under the same conditions, highlights the energy savings. GMG has also been working with potential industrial customers to demonstrate the potential for improved heat management through the application of TXR.

As part of this demonstration programme, GMG has commissioned the University of Queensland Materials Performance Consultancy to verify a number of heat transfer demonstrations. GMG reported that the University of Queensland Materials Performance Consultancy ("UQMP") verified that GMG's THERMAL-XR®, demonstrations and results, when applied to Copper and Aluminium, changed the surface temperature when operating between 700C and 900C. GMG previously reported the UQ had verified a ~ 15% reduction when TXR was applied to the top side of aluminium, compared to un-TXR coated material.

In addition to these two `top side' coating tests, GMG is also pleased to release the results of testing of GMG's THERMAL-XR® applied on the underside of both Aluminium and Copper, where the result was to see the underside of the plates increase in temperature, again following the same testing methodology. Copper and Aluminium are key metals used in HVAC-R equipment. This demonstration highlights that the external (top side) coating of the metal with THERMAL-XR® can improve heat transfer, potentially leading to Energy Savings because of reduced compressor and fan utilisation.

The coating of metal with THERMAL-XR® exposed to a heat source (Under side coating) can potentially act as a heat sink to keep heat within a requirement.