Artic Master RMS- 5

[ClydeMule]

Has anyone seen or heard about this thing called an Artic master RMS. It used to be called a Talon RMS.

The website

http://www.articmaster.com

makes some pretty impressive claims about what it can do. It is a vessel installed in the same place you would put a receiever in an air cooled system. It makes some kind of vortex, which they claim:


*Reduces Head pressure
*Reduces Energy Costs
*A whole bunch of other great things.

While I am skeptical of the claims, I am not going to debunk the thing immediatley, because they have some testimonials and an Plant Engineering award (albeit unverified). My guess is that the claims are true, kind of, but how they explain how it works is wrong. I equate it with a liquid/suction heat exchanger. People think these magically give you more capacity. They do only if you have flash gas in the liquid line ahead of the TEV, which is common.

The only thing close to a technical explanation is a line which talks about how the vortex creates turblent refrigeration flow which helps cool the oil on the surface of the vessel. THis may be true, but how does that save you 20%?

I also have a cost savings spreadsheet from them which is amateur at best.

Thanks,

Clyde

 

[ProfSporlan]

jpthiede, I'll assume evap temp (in/out) and cond temp (in/out) are air temperatures across the coil. With sample #2, are you comparing system operation at a 69°F ambient less the Articmaster, and 94.3°F with the ArticMaster? If so, the sample #2 numbers aren't particularly useful for comparison.

Sample #1 numbers seem to compare 92°F ambient less the ArticMaster and 95°F ambient with... a better comparison anyway. The resulting increase in evap pressure and reduction in head pressure would improve system efficiency. The superheat increases from 13°F to 17°F with the ArticMaster? A higher load on the evap would explain this as would the higher evap pressure. But if head pressure dropped with the ArticMaster, this would be interesting. Was the unit overcharged a bit originally?

Bottom line is without a test unit monitored in a psych chamber with the ArticMaster installed, and without it installed, it will be difficult to gain insight as to what the ArticMaster brings to the party.

 

[jpthiede]

I have seen comparisons with large ambient temp differentials to show relatively small increases in amp draw. This doesn't prove, but helps to show that "the hotter it gets, the better it works.", as stated by the manufacturer.

Before installation of the ArticMaster, the system that it is installed on must be in proper working order. This means that the charge is checked along with the cleanliness of the coils, etc. Now I do understand that if you were not standing there watching how it may look like there was more done that just installing the ArticMaster. I do have a report from Geottl - South Mountain Laboritories that was a controlled installation that I can forward to you in PDF. You can request this through email if you like.

-J. Thiede
jthiede@advenv.com