Jul 25 2005
SEMCO Incorporated has received a prestigious "Top 100 Innovative Products" Award for 2005 from R&D Magazine for its Revolution(TM) System, an active desiccant-vapor compression hybrid rooftop unit.
The Revolution is a rooftop air conditioner that can independently control humidity and temperature while delivering any specified percentage of outdoor air into commercial and institutional buildings. The Revolution's flexibility allows operators to easily comply with building ventilation codes and maintain specific indoor humidity levels for hospitals, theaters, hotels and schools. Better control of humidity levels helps control mold and mildew that can cause long-term health and indoor air quality issues.
When compared to conventional air-conditioning hardware packages, the Revolution is more compact, cost-effective and energy-efficient. Most importantly, it can accommodate up to 100% outdoor air and deliver much drier air than possible through the use of conventional cooling equipment.
"We're very proud to be among the companies whose technology was selected for this award," said William E. Thurman, president of SEMCO Incorporated. "Beside being a very prestigious technical award, this honor recognizes excellence in products that are actually being developed, with real application that benefits mankind. The Revolution represents SEMCO's commitment to innovation and excellence and embodies our approach to delivering novel solutions to complex technical or practical problems. With the Revolution 'hybrid,' essentially all commercial, public, or institutional building types can benefit from this new technology. It's truly a quantum leap over all previous HVAC systems and represents the fruits of a 6-year research and development effort."
SEMCO shares the magazine's award with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Department of Energy's premier laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research, development and deployment. SEMCO and ORNL applied jointly for the award and have collaborated on active desiccant technologies for the past 6 years. Established in 1963, the R&D 100 Awards recognize the 100 most technologically significant new products and processes of the year. According to the magazine, winners are products and processes that can change people's lives for the better, through improvements attributable to significant breakthroughs in technology. Each entry is judged by a team of experts for its degree of innovation and technological importance.
Past recipients have included products such as the automated teller machine (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), the liquid crystal display (1980), the Kodak Photo CD (1991), the Nicoderm antismoking patch (1992), Taxol anticancer drug (1993), lab on a chip (1996), and high-definition television (1998).
The winning technology will be featured in a September 2005 article in R&D Magazine and showcased at an awards gala on October 20, 2005.