Eliminates Solar Heat Load
SkyCool Pty Ltd has again been internationally recognised and awarded
at the worldwide 9th annual Construction and Engineering Awards
Manufacturing Unit Roof Coating
Manufacturing enterprises, with or without mechanically cooled environments, can experience the benefits of SkyCool through either energy savings, sensitive product prevention and worker productivity in an environment that is cool and comfortable. Addition benefits include the protection of building structure from leakage and corrosion and reduced load on air conditioning plant.
A 2021 example of this can be seen at Lipa Pharmaceuticals in Minto, Sydney.
Having achieved their initial goals they will shortly be moving onto Phase 2.
Seven times winner of Complementary Medicines Australia’s ‘High Quality Manufacturer’ award, they are a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of vitamins, mineral and dietary supplements.
Thermal observations during the application of SkyCool.
• The contaminated black sections – background - appear thermally white-hot at 64.1ᵒC
• The cleaned metal roof area – foreground – are thermally red-hot at 49.5ᵒC
• The SkyCool coated area – middle ground – is 22.3ᵒC , 41.8ᵒC cooler than the untreated roof.
• Ambient air temperature was 30ᵒC ; SkyCool cooled the roof to 7.8ᵒC below ambient.
The application of SkyCool to 931m2 was completed on 13 January 2021. Prior to SkyCool works the roof was covered in a heavy coat of black contamination, which raised its temperature to 65ᵒC under normal sun-load on a 30ᵒC day.
The white region is that area which received the SkyCool Solar Protective Coating, including the air conditioning ducts. The remainder of the roof area shows the excessive degree of contamination which results in the high thermal input.
SkyCool coated these sites to seal them against water incursion and chilled air loss.
Also observed during the application works, were some significant cracks in the air conditioning ducts, resulting in the leakage of chilled air. These sites would also permit the ingress of rain water.
VISUAL EFFECT
The following images of the completed project compare visually the SkyCool effect with the un-coated roofs in the distance.
THERMAL MEASUREMENTS
These composite thermal images confirm the dramatic cooling effect shown above.
The FLIR thermal camera, world leaders in thermal imaging, takes two images simultaneously so that we are able to overlay the visual with the thermal readings.
This frame, taken from the FLIR thermal video showing the applicator holding the extended spray gun as he walks along the roof, shows that SkyCool starts to reflect heat immediately it contacts the roof. It also shows that reflectance & emittance increases as the coating cures further to the right of the applicator
A detailed analysis process was commenced upon completion of Stage 1.
Below is part of their internal report to senior management to justify starting additional works on other buildings
Lipa Management Report (with permission)
Roof Temperature Gain
There was a very strong linear correlation between the ambient temperature and the resulting roof temperature for each type of roof (Black soot, white clean roof, SkyCool roof).
SkyCool has an almost 1:1 relationship between ambient temperature and the roof temperature. With the clean roof having a temperature range between the black soot roof and SkyCool, suggesting there is some benefit towards keeping the roof clean in terms of thermal gain reduction.
SkyCool observation:
Example, on a 40ᵒC day:
- black roof is 80ᵒC
- clean roof is 60ᵒC
- SkyCool is 40ᵒC
For any given ambient temperature, SkyCool roof showed a significant power consumption reduction to maintain internal set point compared to our black roof. On average for a 30ᵒC the black roof would have 2 compressors running at 50kW whilst SkyCool was able to achieve it with 1 compressor at 25kW energy consumption, a 50% power reduction.
This effect is magnified the hotter the day is. SkyCool never had to utilise more than 2 compressors to maintain set point even at the highest record temperature of 41ᵒC. This has transformed the two compressors into backup that can be used to extend the lifetime of the other two compressors.
Red circle on figure 3 shows that when the set point is increased, additional energy savings can be made. It is hypothesized that on a day that is below 30ᵒC, at the appropriate set point the SkyCool roof can maintain below 25ᵒC with no or very minimal compressor action.
Power Consumption Comparison
Ambient Air and power consumption
Payback and energy savings
The measured performance of SkyCool has been shown to save about 20% more electricity consumption to the modelled amount.
Annual energy savings equate to approximately $9000 p.a. and 63kWh/m2 saved annually in energy consumption.
The fact that the comparison between the theoretical and measured are similar or favourable towards the measured allows for the performance of SkyCool to be predicted on other applications.
Major Industry Examples Cooled by SkyCool