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As I was taking the pooch for a run this morning, it occurred to me that there may be a cheap(er) and more reliable way to manage the temperature and humidity of the observatory. (than air-conditioners)
That being, a semi passive use of thermal mass.
For example, if you had a 1000L ibc, filled it with water, insulated it, ran a labyrinth of 4" PVC pipe under the water.... you could use muffin fans to draw air from the observatory and blow it through the network of pipes immersed in the ibc, liberating the heat (in to the water) before returning the dry, cooler air back in to the observatory. After sunset, you would then blow cold night air through the pipework to liberate the heat accumulated in the water during the day.
It also occurred to me that a water chiller running off solar panels could bring the water to an even colder temperature, which could then be used to pull heat out of the CCD camera... it would be a factor of 9 more efficient at removing heat (considering the coefficient of performance of heat pumps versus peltiers) ... but more importantly, this system would be consuming electricity during the day when solar panels are generating energy... instead of at night, when they are not... ergo, the requirement for battery storage is greatly reduced ... assuming this is off-grid.
Anyway.. that was my thought for the day.
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