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greentechZONE Products for the week of May 18, 2009
Microstaq Says
Quanmax Tapped To Manufacture Innvoative Silicon Expansion Valve (SEV) For HVAC And Refrigeration Markets
Partnership brings world class supply chain management and integration expertise to Microstaq
Microstaq, a developer of advanced silicon MEMS-based fluid control technology, announced that the company has partnered with Quanmax to manufacture Microstaq Silicon Expansion Valve (SEV) in China. Quanmax’s world class supply chain management and expertise in both silicon and mechanical integration ensures that Microstaq’s customers will receive products on time and of the highest quality in the industry.
The partnership with Quanmax provides Microstaq an increased level of credibility in the industry and highlights the company’s momentum in the HVAC/R market. Since the SEV is the first true innovation for the HVAC/R market in more than 50 years, the company needed a partner that had manufacturing expertise in two very different areas – silicon and mechanical. Quanmax is one of the only company’s in the world to master this unique niche and was a perfect choice for manufacturing Microstaq’s SEV.
“We’re pleased that Microstaq choose Quanmax to manufacture this innovative product for the HVAC/R market.” said Kevin Tseng CEO of Quanmax “Quanmax’s strengths in IC and mechanical assembly make it an excellent partner to address complex air conditioning and refrigeration challenges through advanced MEMS features that provide a competitive edge in the market”
“Microstaq spent considerable amount of time searching for a stable, reliable and quality driven partner to bring the SEV to market. Quanmax provides these qualities and we will take full advantage of this collaboration to draw on manufacturing, technical and management experience from both parties to accelerate the adoption of the SEV in the market” said Sandeep Kumar CEO of Microstaq.
The Microstaq SEV is engineered based on the company’s unique Ventilum chip. The Ventilum chip is the only MEMS, or micro electromechanical systems, device that allows for fluid movement measured in liters (compared to nanoliters as with most MEMS devices). This unique capability is due to Microstaq’s proprietary design and makes the product suite an industry first.
EN-Genius Says…
Microstaq’s clever MEMS-based expansion valve is not the typical sort of thing you’ll find reviewed here in greentechZONE, but it’s a potentially important spin-off from mainstream electronics technology that could have a big impact on the energy efficiency of the relatively staid HVAC industry. I’m not a refrigeration expert but the little I know indicates that a reliable, reasonably-priced proportional refrigerant valve could indeed enable much more efficient operation of air conditioners and cooling systems. The other reason electrical engineers should take note of this development is that the smart control systems needed to take full advantage of Microstaq’s proportional flow control capabilities could represent a new and significant market opportunity.
 Until now, most cooling systems have used simple mechanical or solenoid-operated valves to meter refrigerant into their evaporators. While cheap, and reliable, these valves are usually only capable of switching between their full-open and full-closed positions, forcing A/C or heat pump systems to run through energy-wasting on/off cycles. In contrast, the Microstaq MEMS-based technology can be used to fabricate valve apertures that can be precisely adjusted to meter out exactly the amount of refrigerant needed to keep a system running steadily at its optimum output. Its actuation mechanism is built from a three-layer bonded wafer, allowing the moving elements to be fabricated in a more flexible manner and create larger structures than the undercutting techniques used for building many traditional MEMS devices. It uses thermal-electric (rather than electrostatic) force which allows it to be reliably set at any position and gives it more than enough torque to open and close – even in the turbulent fluid flow environment it encounters in a refrigeration system.
 With a maximum aperture size of 2 mm2, Microstaq’s valve can be used to directly meter refrigerant flows in systems of up to ¼ ton capacity. For larger systems the microvalve can be used as a control element in a spool valve, such as the one from Quanmax featured in this press release. In this configuration, it can be used to control systems of up to 12 tons in capacity. With the addition of a closed-loop control system, cooling systems can be adjusted to be run almost continuously at whatever output is necessary to maintain the desired temperature. Besides the higher comfort levels occupants will enjoy as a result of the smaller temperature swings that such a system makes possible, Microstaq claims that moving to proportionally-controlled refrigerant controls enables 5% - 25% improvement in energy efficiency in conventional systems.
I’ll also point out that a high-efficiency air conditioning system like this will require a more sophisticated control system – both on the compressor/evaporator unit and at the thermostats – to deliver its best performance. The extra electronics and software necessary to run such a system at an optimum level represents a significant opportunity for both the companies that make these controls and the chips that go inside of them. Once a controller is equipped with a processor that has enough smarts to maintain maximum efficiency, it also becomes possible to add software that anticipates upcoming demands based on outside weather conditions and analysis of previous load patterns it has seen. The same embedded intelligence will also be help HVAC systems support the communication protocols used in so-called smart building and smart grid applications, all value-add features that will add value for customers and profits for the manufacturer.
Microstaq declined to provide pricing information but claimed to be very competitive with conventional electronic expansion valves.
Data Sheet
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