Contact: Emil Venere
venere@purdue.edu
765-494-4709
Purdue University

Woohyun Kim and James Braun, Purdue University

Caption: Purdue mechanical engineering graduate student Woohyun Kim, at right, and James Braun, a professor of mechanical engineering, use a new technique designed to save energy and servicing costs by indicating when air conditioners are low on refrigerant, preventing the units from working overtime. Technicians servicing home air conditioners might simply plug a personal digital assistant into the unit to read the refrigerant-charge information. The conventional method for accurately learning how much charge is in a system involves removing all of the refrigerant and weighing it, a time-consuming procedure that requires a vacuum pump.

Credit: Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock

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Related news release: Energy-saving method checks refrigerant level in air conditioners