MIT Prototype Cooling System Tracks Individual Users
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—A research team at MIT’s SENSEable City Lab has developed Cloud Cast, a prototype misting technology that cools a human-sized space instead of an entire room or building to save energy and water. Cloud Cast consists of an array of thin aluminum rods that hang from a ceiling. Ultrasonic sensors inside the rods pulse sound waves that deflect off any people standing or walking below. A computer system measures the time interval it takes for the sound waves to be reflected back. This enables the system to pinpoint a person’s location and know where to create mist. Team leader and SENSEable City Lab founder Carlo Ratti recently demonstrated the technology in Dubai. Such hot, dry climates are believed to be the ideal locations to apply the technology. “Evaporative cooling has been used for centuries in the Arabic peninsula,” said Ratti, who works as an engineer and an architect. “[It] is still more energy efficient than, say, air conditioning.”
