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Learn MorePrize Criteria
Testing Protocol
Testing Data and Information
Weather data for the ten test days of lab simulated year-round performance test
The selected 10 days profile for the lab simulated year-round performance test can be found here.
Heat gains in the lab simulated year-round performance test
The internal and external heat gains that will be simulated in the lab at CEPT University can be found here.
Heat gains in the Field test
For the Field test, we will simulate and control the internal gains only; the external gains (envelope gains and outdoor air exchange rate) will not be controlled or simulated during the Field test. The internal gains - hourly sensible and latent - for the Field test are similar to the hourly internal gains for the lab simulated year-round performance test which can be found here. Please note that the apartment homes will be calibrated to ensure that the total cooling load can be met by a 1.5 TR cooling system.
Clarifications and Updates
Expected baseline AC unit’s energy performance during testing
The Global Cooling Prize coalition would like to provide clarification to the Finalist teams about the expected operation and energy performance of the baseline AC unit - 1.5 TR EER 3.5W/W fixed-speed mini-split type room AC using R22 refrigerant - during the lab simulated year-round performance test and field test. As stated in the Operation Criteria of the Prize,
“During testing in the lab and real-world apartments, the prototype of your cooling solution should be able to maintain below 27°C DBT and 60% RH indoor conditions when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT for the duration of the test period. The prototypes as well as the baseline unit will be operated in a continuous operation mode for all the days of the testing period to determine their energy consumption while assessing their ability to maintain the desired indoor conditions.”
Where the “desired indoor conditions” means maintain below 27°C DBT and 60% RH indoor conditions throughout the test period.
Consequently we would like to clarify that the baseline AC unit will be operated, when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT, as necessary, to meet latent loads by lowering the temperature setpoint to the extent that the annual number of unmet hours for the baseline AC unit, with regards to the operating criteria of the Prize, are materially under the threshold limit per ASHRAE 90.1. Following the preliminary testing of the baseline AC unit in the laboratory at CEPT University for the 10 test days, it was observed that the extrapolated annual energy consumption of the baseline AC unit operated in such a manner was 4,338 kWh.
Please note that this observation is only indicative of the performance of the baseline AC unit and the testing team will continue to calibrate the performance of the lab and may install additional instrumentation as necessary in preparation of the testing stage starting in May 2020. A fresh baseline AC unit will be tested again at the time of the testing period starting in May 2020 alongside the prototypes submitted by the Finalist teams. The performance of the baseline AC unit at the time of this testing period will be used to determine the relative climate impact reduction achieved by the prototypes.
Timeline of prototype testing at CEPT University *updated
For the lab simulated year-round performance test at CEPT University, the below schedule will be followed
All the prototypes will be sent for ISEER Test after the conclusion of the Field test. ISEER test results will not factor into the final evaluation
The ISEER rating test, developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in India, assesses the cooling energy consumption and cooling load met by the air conditioner across a temperature range of 24°C to 43°C and 1,600 annual operating hours. The testing is conducted in accordance with ISO 16358-1:2013, IS 1391 (Part 1): 2017, and IS 1391 (Part 2): 2018 to determine the cooling system’s ability to deliver rated cooling capacity (1.5 TR in this case) under standard test conditions.
Upon successful conclusion of the Field test, all the prototypes will be sent for the ISEER test unless approved to bypass this phase by the Technical Review Committee. However, since the results from the ISEER test do not hold any relevance to the prize criteria, it will not have any weightage in the evaluation and determination of the final ranking of the prototypes. ISEER test is important from the point of view of compliance and marketability of an air conditioning product in India and the results from the test will help to gain preliminary insights about the performance of innovative cooling solutions presented by the Finalist teams against the reference standards adopted for testing of air conditioners in India.
Please be assured that the results from the ISEER test will only be shared, including attribution, with the testing team and the Technical Review Committee only and may be used by the prize organizers in the aggregate or without attribution as part of their post testing analysis and reporting. We will only share the results with attribution with specific prior consent of the finalist.
The ISEER test will be conducted after the Field test to ensure that the testing team has all the performance data available from the lab simulated year-round performance test and field test for compilation and analysis which will be shared with the Technical Review Committee for final evaluation. Upon compilation of the data from the lab simulated year-round performance test and field test, the winner of the Global Cooling Prize will be selected by the Technical Review Committee based on the overall performance evaluation against the prize criteria.
Information on room air flow in cubic feet per minute (CFM) for the lab simulated year-round performance test.
This update refers to the internal and external heat gains that will be simulated during the lab test.
As stated under the Operation Criteria of the prize, the cooling solution should be designed to meet a 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) cooling load at standard outdoor conditions. To ensure that the simulated heat gains during the lab test are suitable for a 1.5 TR cooling system and are equivalent to the baseline energy model developed by RMI, we would like to provide additional information pertaining to the ACH values to help determine the cooling load due to infiltration of the outside air. Since determining the heat gain due to infiltration depends on both the ACH and volume of the space to be cooled, we have updated the heat gain information to include CFM values for each hour of the 10 test days during the lab simulated year-round performance test. The updated table is also provided under the section “Testing Data and Information” above.
Please note that during the Field test, we will not be controlling the ACH or envelope gains and only internal heat gains (sensible and latent) will be simulated.
General Frequently Asked Questions
At what locations in India will the two working prototypes need to be shipped?
Each Finalist team is required to deliver two working prototypes by August 22, 2020 to the designated locations in India for the lab and the field test. One prototype for the lab simulated year-round performance test should be shipped to CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India. Second prototype for the field test should be shipped to Tata New Haven Bahadurgarh site in the Delhi National Capital Region.
Will storage space be provided at the testing location for storing spare parts of the prototypes?
Arrangements will be made to provide the storage space at the testing locations to store spare parts of the prototypes.
Who is the point of contact at CEPT University for any questions regarding logistics and shipping of prototypes?
For any questions related to logistics or shipping of two working prototypes to India, please contact at the below details:
Asha Joshi
Administrative Manager, Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy
CEPT University, K.L.Campus, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009
INDIA
Email: ashajoshi@cept.ac.in
Phone: +91 79 2630 2470 Ext : 383
At what sampling frequency will the performance parameters be measured during the Lab and Field tests?
As mentioned in the Testing Protocol document, the testing team will monitor and record all the parameters such as energy consumption, power draw, water use, indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity at a 15-minute interval, at minimum.
At what pressure will the water be supplied to the prototypes during the lab and the field test?
During the Lab test and the Field test, the testing team will ensure that the water supply pressure is maintained in the range of 2 bar – 3.5 bar. The above pressure range appropriately reflects the real-world conditions to operate different fixtures or appliances while staying below the safety limits in accordance with the national (India) as well as global guidelines on water supply for households.
What is the quality of water that is supplied to the prototypes during the lab and the field test?
The water supply available for prototype operation is expected to be of appropriate quality ensuring that the pH is in the range of 6.5 - 8.5, total hardness is below 600 mg/liter, and total dissolved solids are below 800 mg/liter, which are also in accordance with the Indian drinking water quality standard, IS 10500:2012. This will be measured prior to testing commencement and adjusted if materially different.
How will the testing team identify the failure of a prototype during the lab simulated year-round performance test and field test?
During testing of the prototype, if the testing team encounters (i) excessive noise or; (ii) identifies that the prototype is in a complete breakdown or; (iii) upon request from the Finalist team and subsequent review, identifies that the prototype is performing materially different from expected - the testing team will stop the operation of the prototype and notify the Finalist team about the opportunity to undertake any repairs to the prototype. Following the notification, the Finalist team will be given an opportunity to either replace or perform necessary repairs to their prototype at their sole discretion in accordance with the protocol mentioned under the FAQ page-Testing.
The “failure” will be considered to commence from the point in time when the testing team completely stops the prototype’s operation and will be considered to conclude when the prototype is successfully powered back on after completing the repair or replacement of any component or sub-component by the Finalist team in accordance with the communication protocol mentioned under the FAQ page-Testing.
Can the Finalist team request the testing team to stop the testing of the prototype and undertake repairs at any point during the testing?
If the Finalist team believes that their prototype is not performing as expected and would like to make repairs, such a request must be made to the testing team as per below details:
Yash Shukla
Primary Email: yash.shukla@cept.ac.in
Secondary Email: info@globalcoolingprize.org
Phone: +91-9913318333
The testing team, after reviewing the performance of the prototype and at their sole discretion, will stop the testing of the prototype and allow the Finalist team to undertake repairs. The amount of time to rectify the repair will be counted towards the allocated time to address the failures of prototypes as mentioned under the FAQ page-Testing.
How will the Prize Organizers handle the working prototypes submitted for testing after the Prize winner(s) is announced?
Upon completion of the testing stage of the Prize, the Prize Organizers will continue to ensure secure storage of the two working prototypes of each of the Finalist team until 30 days after the Final Award Ceremony during which the winner(s) of the Prize will be announced. The working prototypes may, at the sole option and responsibility of, individual Finalist teams be showcased at the Final Award Ceremony which will see a gathering of top tier global media, government officials and industry stakeholders providing an opportunity to share the features of their innovative cooling solution.
Excluding finalists teams that have entered into separate arrangements with CEPT University to undertake the importation of their prototypes, Finalist teams are requested to arrange for the collection of their prototypes, at their own cost, either for return shipping or secure destruction, within 30 days of the Final Award Ceremony. The Prize Organizers will be neither responsible for ongoing secure storage nor any implied responsibility to protect finalists intellectual property associated with their prototype after the expiration of the 30 day period post the Final Award Ceremony and will arrange for destruction of any prototypes not collected by the Finalist teams after this period.
Collection of prototypes should be coordinated with:
Ms. Asha Joshi
C/O Dr. Rajan Rawal
Executive Director, Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy
CEPT University, K.L.Campus, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009, INDIA
Email: ashajoshi@cept.ac.in
Phone: +91 79 2630 2470 Ext : 383
Will the Prize Organizers make test results public during the testing stage of the Prize?
Only for the Field test, anonymized testing results from each day will be published on the Prize website. The published results will be for a 15-minute interval that will be selected by the technical team for any given day. Team names will be completely anonymous using code names and will not be shared with anyone outside the testing and technical support teams.
The parameters that will be shown on the performance dashboard would correspond to the selected 15-minute interval and will include the climate impact of the prototype relative to the baseline unit, the indoor temperature and relative humidity maintained, and outdoor dry bulb temperature and relative humidity.
Lab Test Frequently Asked Questions
What is the address of CEPT University where one prototype for the lab test should be shipped?
Each Finalist team should ship one working prototype to CEPT University for the lab test at the below mentioned address:
Asha Joshi
C/O Dr. Rajan Rawal
Executive Director, Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy
CEPT University, K.L.Campus, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009
INDIA
What is the volume of the inner chamber at the CEPT facility?
The volume of the inner chamber is about 60 cubic meters.
During the lab simulated year-round performance test, what is the transition and stabilization period between consecutive test days? How is the performance of prototypes assessed?
The operation of the prototypes during the lab simulated year-round performance test as stated in the testing protocol is as follows:
"The second prototype of each selected participant will be tested in a state-of-the-art laboratory environment at the CEPT University laboratory in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in India. Each competing technology including the baseline unit - which is a 1.5 TR fixed-speed EER 3.5 W/W mini-split AC unit of brand Voltas and model SAC 183 JZJ - will be tested for up to 12 days.............
The external conditions, for this test, will be simulated based on a set of 10 daily weather profiles.......
The units will be operated for these 10 typical days in continuous operation mode, excluding day to day transition and stabilization, and the performance will be extrapolated using an assigned weighting for each day to give annual performance."
In line with the above stated language, it is to be noted that the testing period of up to 12 days includes the 10 days operation of the prototypes and a transition time required to ensure stabilization of the chamber between consecutive test days. During this 12 day testing period, while the prototype and the chambers will be operating continuously, the prototype's performance against the prize criteria will be assessed for the selected 10 days profile only (once chamber is stabilized) and any operation of the prototype during the transition time between the test days will not factor in the final evaluation. We expect this transition time to be about 4 hours between two consecutive days. Please note that no manual intervention will be allowed during the testing period other than that contemplated under the component or sub-component failure protocol.
During the lab simulated year-round performance test, what weights are assigned to each of the 10 test days for evaluating the annual performance?
During the lab simulated year-round performance test, the prototypes will be operated for 10 days in continuous operation mode, excluding day to day transition and stabilization, and the performance will be extrapolated using an assigned weighting for each day to give annual performance. The weighting for the mild day (starting day), where prototypes will commence operation, will have a weighting of 8% and extreme hot and dry day, which represent the most challenging conditions, will have a weighting of 2% when extrapolating to annual performance.
The assigned weighting factor for each day is provided in the table below and will be used to convert the 10-day performance of the cooling solution to annual performance.
Day 1 - Warm and Dry 8%
Day 2 - Warm and Dry 12%
Day 3 - Warm and Humid 5%
Day 4 - Warm and Humid 18%
Day 5 - Hot and Dry 1%
Day 6 - Hot and Dry 10%
Day 7 - Hot and Humid 4%
Day 8 - Hot and Humid 6%
Day 9 - Warm and Extreme Humid. 6%
Day 10 - Extreme Hot and Dry 2%
During lab-simulated year round performance testing, how will the Global Cooling Prize team tackle any situation of failure of a component or sub-component of the cooling solution?
If during lab-simulated year round performance testing, the Global Cooling Prize team identifies that any component or sub-component has undergone a failure resulting in a complete breakdown or material underperformance of the cooling solution, the same will be communicated to the participant and given an opportunity to either replace or perform necessary repairs to their unit at their sole discretion and cost.
During the Lab simulated year-round performance test, what protocol will be followed for testing of prototypes in the event of a failure?
The following protocol will be followed in the scenario where the prototype undergoes a failure:
What is an unmet hour during the Lab simulated year-round performance test? How is the unmet hour allowance determined?
An unmet hour is any interval when the prototype is not able to maintain the indoor
conditions per the Operations Criteria of the Prize. The prototype should be able to maintain the indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature and 60% relative humidity when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT for the duration of the test period.
An “unmet hours” allowance of 3.4% of the test period hours will be provided, in addition to the number of hours that the baseline unit does not achieve the desired indoor conditions of below 27°C DBT and 60% RH, and will only be evaluated when outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT.
If a prototype undergoes a failure on any test day(s) and the testing team is not able to undertake retesting of the prototype for some or all test days, the team will provide the details of the failure including possible cause and extent of failure to the Technical Review Committee (TRC). The TRC will use this information and at their sole discretion, may decide to either include or exclude a part or all the failure hours (that are not retested) as unmet hours.
To calculate the number of unmet hours, the below formula will be used:
Unmet hour allowance for prototype: Baseline unit unmet hours plus 3.4% * 240 test hours
Unmet hours for prototype: Sum of all the weighted unmet hours for 10 test days, where weighted unmet hour is:
Weighted unmet hours of a test day = Actual number of unmet hours on a test day * test day weighting * number of test days; and
Can you illustrate through an example how the number of unmet hours in the Lab simulated year-round performance test are calculated?
The unmet hour calculation for the Lab test can be understood using the below example scenario
1. Consider that Prototype 1
2. Consider that Prototype 2
3. Calculating the unmet hours
Will access to the performance data be allowed during the lab simulated year-round performance test?
The performance data from the lab simulated year-round performance test will be shared by the testing team with the Technical Review Committee and technical support team of the Global Cooling Prize.
This performance data will be made available on a daily basis i.e every 24 hours, in the form of an excel sheet and will include performance on a 15-minute interval for the parameters including electricity consumption of the cooling unit (kWh), power draw (W), water consumption, if any (liter), dry bulb temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) maintained in the indoor chamber, and dry bulb temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) maintained in the outdoor chamber.
Can a team make any changes or upgrades to the control system or logic remotely upon commencing of testing of prototypes ?
While the Finalist teams will be receiving their daily performance data to help understand their prototype operation, any controls and logics that are programmed and integrated to automate the performance of the prototype cannot be modified or updated upon commencement of the testing stage of the prize. If the testing team encounters any such situation, it will inform the Technical Review Committee which, at their sole discretion, will take a decision on the team’s participation in the prize.
If the Finalist team, after reviewing the daily performance data, believes that their prototype is not performing as expected and would like to make repairs, such a request must be made to the testing team as per below details:
Yash Shukla
Primary Email: yash.shukla@cept.ac.in
Secondary Email: info@globalcoolingprize.org
Phone: +91-9913318333
The testing team, after reviewing the performance of the prototype and at their sole discretion, will stop the testing of the prototype and allow the Finalist team to undertake repairs.
Field Test Frequently Asked Questions
What is the address of the test location for the Field test where the second prototype should be shipped?
Each Finalist team should ship the second prototype to Tata New Haven Bahadurgarh site at the below mentioned address:
Mr. Ashok Pal Singh
General Manager – Engineering
HL PROMOTERS PVT. LTD. (Subsidiary of TATA VALUE HOMES LTD.)
Sector – 37, Village Nuna Majra, Jhajjar Road, Bahadurgarh –
124507
Jhajjar District, Haryana, India
Phone: +919971711166
During the Field test, how will the prototypes be installed in the apartment building?
In the Field test, the prototypes will be installed in an apartment building with 14 floors. The selected apartment units have multiple rooms and the prototype will be installed in the master bedroom that has an accompanying bathroom and a balcony for placing the outdoor unit. The total area of the master bedroom plus bathroom is about 22 square meters and the balcony area is about 6.4 square meters. The prototypes are required to maintain the indoor conditions in the space they are installed, at minimum, in accordance with the Operation criteria of the Prize.
The prototypes will be installed in the following order:
Second Floor: Baseline unit 1
Third Floor: Team S&S Design Startup Solutions Private Limited
Fourth Floor: Team Kraton Corporation, IIT Bombay, Porus Laboratories, and Infosys
Fifth Floor: Team Daikin AirConditioning India Private Limited, Daikin Industries Ltd., and Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
Sixth Floor: Team Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai and Tsinghua University
Seventh Floor: Team Transaera Inc. and Qingdao Haier Air Conditioner General, Ltd.
Eighth Floor: Team Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. in partnership with A.T.E. Enterprises Private Limited
Ninth Floor: Baseline unit 2
Tenth Floor: Team Barocal Ltd
Twelfth Floor: Team M2 Thermal Solutions
What is the duration of the Field test and how will the performance of prototypes be assessed?
The Field test will be conducted in the month of September and October 2020 for up to 60 days. The performance assessment of the prototypes will be done for the first 30 days only (primarily the month of September), due to the weather conditions in the month of October being much milder.
During the Field test, how will the Global Cooling Prize team tackle any situation of failure of a component or sub-component of the cooling solution?
If during field testing, the Global Cooling Prize team identifies that any component or sub-component has undergone a failure resulting in a complete breakdown or material underperformance of the cooling solution, the same will be communicated to the participant and given an opportunity to either replace or perform necessary repairs to their unit at their sole discretion and cost.
During the Field test, what protocol will be followed for testing of prototypes in the event of a failure?
The following protocol will be followed in the scenario where the prototype undergoes a failure:
What is an unmet hour during the Field test? How is the unmet hour allowance determined?
An unmet hour is any interval when the prototype is not able to maintain the indoor
conditions per the Operations Criteria of the Prize. The prototype should be able to maintain the indoor conditions below 27°C dry bulb temperature and 60% relative humidity when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT for the duration of the test period.
An “unmet hours” allowance of 3.4% of the test period hours will be provided, in addition to the number of hours that the baseline unit does not achieve the desired indoor conditions of below 27°C DBT and 60% RH, and will only be evaluated when outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT.
In addition to the above definition of unmet hours, the total number of hours that the prototype is not able to operate due to a “failure,” that is “failure hours,” may be considered as unmet hours for that test day. For the baseline unit, only in the scenario where both the baseline units undergo failure concurrently, the number of hours before at least one baseline unit returns to operation will be called as “failure hours” and will be counted towards the baseline unmet hours.
For any failure hours, the team will provide the details including possible cause and extent of failure to the Technical Review Committee (TRC). The TRC will consider this information and, at their sole discretion, may decide to either include or exclude a part or all the “failure hours” as unmet hours when evaluating the achievement of the Operations Criteria of the Prize.
To calculate the number of unmet hours, the below formula will be used:
Unmet hour allowance for prototype: Baseline unit unmet hours (including any “failure hours”) plus 3.4% * 30 days * 24 test hours
Unmet hours for prototype: Unmet hours during operation (not meeting the operation criteria) plus any “failure hours” included as a result of the TRC evaluation
Will access to the performance data be allowed during the Field test?
The performance data from the Field test will be shared by the testing team with the Technical Review Committee and technical support team of the Global Cooling Prize.
This performance data will be made available on a daily basis (i.e every 24 hours) in the form of an excel sheet and will include performance on a 15-minute interval for the parameters including electricity consumption of the cooling unit (kWh), power draw (W), water consumption, if any (liter), indoor dry bulb temperature (°C), indoor relative humidity (%), outdoor dry bulb temperature (°C), outdoor relative humidity (%).
ISEER Test Frequently Asked Questions
When and where will the ISEER test be conducted?
After the conclusion of the Field test, the prototypes will be sent to a National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited lab for ISEER test unless approved to bypass this phase by the Technical Review Committee. The prize organizers will arrange all the logistics support for the same.
The ISEER test will be conducted between November - December 2020.
The ISEER test will be conducted in accordance with IS 1391 (Part 1): 2017 and IS 1391 (Part 2): 2018, whichever is applicable depending on the unitary or split AC type configuration, to determine the prototype’s ability to deliver 1.5 TR cooling capacity and power consumption under standard test conditions. Following the capacity test, an ISEER rating will be assigned to the prototype based on the ISO 16358-1:2013 standard.
Will the results from the ISEER test be considered during the evaluation of the prototypes?
For the purpose of the Global Cooling Prize, whilst all the prototypes will be sent for the ISEER test unless approved to bypass this phase by the Technical Review Committee, the results from the ISEER test will not have any weightage in the evaluation and determination of the final ranking of the prototypes. Whilst ISEER test is important from the point of view of compliance and marketability of an air conditioning product in India, since the results from the ISEER test do not hold any relevance to the prize criteria, this test will not be considered in the final evaluation.
Please be assured that the results from the ISEER test will only be shared, including attribution, with the testing team and the Technical Review Committee only and may be used by the prize organizers in the aggregate or without attribution as part of their post testing analysis and reporting. We will only share the results with attribution with specific prior consent of the finalist.
Since the ISEER test will not factor in the final evaluation of prototypes, is it acceptable if the team decides to cancel ISEER testing of the prototypes?
All the prototypes will be sent for the ISEER test unless approved to bypass this phase by the Technical Review Committee. However, the results from the ISEER test will not have any weightage in the evaluation and determination of the final ranking of the prototypes. The test will help to gain preliminary insights about the performance of innovative cooling solutions presented by the Finalist teams against the reference standards adopted for testing of air conditioners in India. Please be assured that the results from the ISEER test will only be shared, including attribution, with the testing team and the Technical Review Committee only and may be used by the prize organizers in the aggregate or without attribution as part of their post testing analysis and reporting. We will only share the results with attribution with specific prior consent of the finalist.
Will the PV power be reduced from the tested power of the prototype to calculate ISEER when the prototype is tested in the lab for ISEER? If yes, How to calculate ISEER?
For prototypes that fall under the purview of the ISEER test methodology but also have an integrated solar PV, the testing team will determine an estimated “equivalent ISEER rating” for such technologies following the below methodology.
Prize Criteria and Evaluation Frequently Asked Questions
How will the Technical Review Committee assess and evaluate the performance of prototypes based on the testing results?
After the testing of the prototypes, the Technical Review Committee will review the performance against the prize criteria - primary and supplementary criteria. The primary criteria of the Prize are climate impact and affordability criteria. The achievement of the minimum threshold under each supplementary criteria, that is power draw, water, emissions, materials, refrigerant, scalability, operation, is an expectation of all prototypes. During the testing stage, in case one or more supplementary criteria are not met by the competing technologies, the Technical Review Committee will take a decision on whether or not the Finalist is qualified to compete in the Prize.
Points will be awarded to each prototype based on the performance on the climate impact and affordability criteria as compared to the baseline performance. Finally, a combination of the total points scored on the primary criteria and the achievement of the supplementary criteria will be used to rank the finalists, thus reflecting the Prize’s objective of identifying a solution with 5X lower climate impact at no more than 2X the cost of today’s standard AC units to consumers.
What is the climate impact criteria of the Prize?
The Climate Impact criteria requires that the cooling solution must achieve at least 80% lower climate impact (five times lower climate impact) compared to the climate impact of the baseline AC unit. The climate impact of a cooling technology is determined by a combination of two factors – electricity reduction (kWh) and refrigerant GWP reduction, using assigned weighting of 80:20 respectively, as compared to the baseline. To achieve a 5X lower climate impact, an overall reduction of 80% (electricity kWh and refrigerant GWP combined) as compared to the baseline will be required.
How is the grid electricity consumption data from the lab and field test used to determine the climate impact criteria?
To determine the grid electricity consumption of the prototype, we will analyze the electricity consumption data from both the Lab test and the Field test. However, recognizing that the Field test has much higher uncertainties and noise and is performed over a limited weather profile as opposed to the much tightly controlled Lab test that spans the full season of cooling operation, the results from the lab test and field test will be adjusted accordingly.
Consequently, we anticipate that the lab test results will receive an approximate 80% weighting in aggregate while the Field test results will be given an approximate 20% weighting when determining the energy consumption of the prototypes. The three key factors that affect the weighting are –
To determine the number of field test days that match a lab test day weather profile , we use the actual weather data (temp, RH and solar GHI) for each field test day and apply a statistical analysis approach to identify the closest match to the predetermined lab test day weather profiles.
The uncertainty factor represents inherent uncertainties in measurements and cooling loads between the lab and field test. We use this pre-determined uncertainty factor – determined to be 5.23 based on analysis - on these matched Field test days while capping the resulting field test weighting factor for any given lab test day weather profile to a maximum of 50% of the weighting factor for that lab test day.
The above is combined with the actual operating hours that a prototype operates on any given test day (i.e. excluding failure and missed hours), and accordingly the individual day weighting factor for the lab test and the field test is adjusted to reflect the actual operating hours recorded when determining the grid electricity consumption of the prototype.
How are points awarded for the climate impact criteria?
To achieve a 5X lower climate impact, an overall reduction of 80% (electricity kWh and refrigerant GWP combined) as compared to the baseline will be required. The overall percentage reduction achieved from the baseline will then be converted to equivalent points. A zero percent reduction from the baseline i.e. a technology at baseline will receive zero points. A technology achieving 100% reduction from the baseline will receive 100 points. Any percentage reduction between 0% and 100% will be ratably converted to equivalent points between 0 to 100.
For example, a technology that is powered by solar PV mounted on it, without exceeding the overall unit volumetric sizing requirement, and uses zero GWP refrigerant, would achieve an overall reduction of 100% from the baseline and will receive 100 points. If a technology achieves a 75% reduction in electricity from the baseline and also uses a zero GWP refrigerant, it achieves a 100% reduction from the GWP baseline (R22 at a GWP of 1760). The overall percentage reduction achieved using the assigned 80:20 weighting would be 80%, and therefore will receive 80 points.
What is the affordability criteria of the Prize?
The Affordability Criteria requires that the installed cost of the cooling solution (excluding standard installation labor costs comparable to the baseline unit and any taxes) to the consumer, when manufactured on a scale of 100,000 units per year, must not be more than twice the installed cost of the baseline AC unit to the consumer. Based on the baseline cost of US $534, the proposed cooling solution’s installed cost to consumer, when scaled at 100,000 units per year, must be no more than US $1,068.
The installed cost to consumer includes the cost of the unit bill of materials (components, solar PV etc.), cost of external components, cost of consumables such as refrigerant, and other costs and margins (profit margins, distribution costs, overhead cost etc.). The "unit bill of materials cost, cost of external components and cost of consumables" when scaled at 100,000 units per year combined must not cost more than US $427 (40% of the threshold cost criteria of US $ 1,068) to successfully compete in the competition.
How are points awarded for the affordability criteria?
Based on the bill of materials provided by the Finalist team, the Technical Review Committee (TRC) will do an independent assessment of the bill of materials in conjunction with a likely virtual examination of the prototypes - through installation and commissioning recordings and photos – to verify the estimated total installed cost of the solution. TRC will review the support team’s assessment and may use it for the evaluation.
Following their assessment, the TRC will categorize the total installed cost into predefined ranges noted in the table below. The TRC will use the table below to automatically award points to prototypes meeting or exceeding the 5X climate impact criteria and as a ‘to not exceed’ guide to awarding points to prototypes falling short of the 5X climate impact criteria based on TRC consensus decision.
What is the power draw criteria for the prize? How will the power draw criteria of the cooling solution be determined and assessed?
The Power draw criteria requires that the maximum power drawn by the prototype from the electricity grid should not exceed 700 W while delivering the rated cooling capacity of 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) under standard outdoor conditions as well as over the span of the Lab and Field tests.
The power draw of the prototype will be assessed over a period of every 15 minutes. The testing team will take multiple readings within a 15-minute interval and then determine the average value over that 15-minute period (this typically aligns with utility demand calculation approach). So, while there can be spikes in demand, it is expected that the 15-minute average value is less than the 700W requirement. It is expected that the power demand will be less than 700 W for all 15-minute intervals during operation. In the case that the power demand of your solution is greater than 700 W for any 15-min interval(s), it will be considered as failing the criteria and the Technical Review Committee will make their final decision based on overall performance consideration.
What is the water use criteria for the prize? How will the water use criteria of the cooling solution be determined and assessed?
The water use criteria requires that the onsite water consumption, if any is required for operation of the cooling solution, should not exceed 14 liters per day when averaged over a year with a maximum daily limit of 28 liters.
The daily maximum limit will be assessed and evaluated independently for the Lab and Field test and should not exceed 28 liters on any test day. Where only partial data is available for a test day because the prototype encounters a “failure” in the Lab or the Field test, the total water consumption will be calculated for the operation period and assessed accordingly against the daily maximum limit.
For the daily average limit, Lab test data will be considered because it spans the full season of cooling operation. The water consumption will be recorded for each day of the Lab test (including normalization for any partial day), converted to annualized consumption using the weighting factor for each day, and then divided by the annualized test days to calculate the average consumption. However, the Field test results will be considered in the assessment of the daily average limit only if the Technical Review Committee, through a simple majority, believes that the water use for any given Field day is materially different from the corresponding lab test day with a similar weather profile.
What is the refrigerant compliance criteria for the Prize?
The refrigerant compliance criteria requires that the cooling solution should use a refrigerant that has a zero ODP in line with the Montreal Protocol. It should use a lower toxicity (Class A) refrigerant as per ISO 817:2014 standard. It should also be capable of meeting test market regulations, or in their absence, international guidelines IEC 60335-2-40 (2018 or latest amended version) or ISO 5149:2014 pertaining to safety and environment performance of systems using flammable refrigerants. It is preferred that the compliance to these standards is met for safe operation, however, the team will not be disqualified in case of a non-compliance with these standards.
In addition to the above requirements, including the GWP of the refrigerant, the Technical Review Committee may also take into consideration the charge quantity where materially different to that of the baseline unit.
How is the refrigerant charge determined for flammable refrigerants?
For the purpose of calculating the charge quantity limit for flammable refrigerant, the room size for the test scenarios should be assumed to be 25 square meters. This aligns with the sizing of the internal chamber that will be used for the lab simulated year-round performance test at CEPT University, India. Also, for the field test, this room size is materially similar to that of the master bedroom where the prototypes of finalist technologies will be installed in the apartment units. Please note that the apartment units selected for the field test will have multiple rooms for a total area of approximately 90 square meters. Further, in calculating the flammable refrigerant charge, the installation height of the prototype will be assumed to be a constant factor of 1.8 meters.
What is the scalability criteria for the Prize? How is the total volumetric size of the cooling solution calculated?
The Scalability criteria requires that the total volumetric size of the cooling solution should not be more than two times the volumetric size of the baseline unit i.e. the total volumetric size should not exceed 0.52 cubic meters. The total volumetric size must include any dedicated renewable power generation resources and any external components that make up the proposed solution.
The volumetric size of the cooling system is calculated as the sum of the measured maximum height, width and depth of each standalone assembly and any integrated external components as configured in the operation mode.
The details of the volumetric size calculation are provided here .
What is the operation criteria for the prize? How will the indoor temperature and humidity conditions maintained by the cooling solution be measured?
The Operation criteria requires that the prototype should be designed to meet a 1.5 TR (5.3 kW) cooling load at standard outdoor conditions and maintain below 27°C DBT and 60% RH indoor conditions. The prototype should be able to maintain below 27°C DBT and 60% RH indoor conditions when the outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT for the duration of the test period. The prototype will be operated in a continuous operation mode for all the days of the testing period to determine its performance while assessing its ability to maintain the desired indoor conditions.
The ability of the prototype to maintain indoor conditions below 27°C DBT and 60% RH will be assessed over a period of every 15 minutes to determine the achievement of the Operation criteria. The testing team will take multiple readings within a 15-minute interval for different temperature and RH sensors installed and then determine the average value for temperature and RH for each individual sensor over that 15-min period. However, for the assessment of the Operation criteria, data from only one sensor (specific wall location during the field as well as the lab test) will be used and the rest of the sensors will be used for observation only.
Only in the scenario where the stratification inside the chamber, that is the difference between the readings of any two sensors, for any 15-minute interval is more than 2°C and/or 5% RH, the testing team will take the average value of all the temperature and/or RH sensors over that 15-minute interval. For each 15-minute interval where the prototype is not able to maintain the desired indoor conditions per the Operation criteria, it will be qualified as a 0.25 unmet hour.
An “unmet hours” allowance of 3.4% of the test period hours will be provided, in addition to the number of hours that the baseline unit does not achieve the desired indoor conditions of below 27°C DBT and 60% RH, and will only be evaluated when outdoor air temperature is above 20°C DBT, recognizing that the ramp up period and precision of operation of prototypes is likely to be less than that of the established baseline unit.