Energy Systems Commons^™

Hvac Lab, Adrian Leon, Wes Allen

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Department was donated a fume hood so that it could be used for educational purposes in the lab. The fume hood was not fully set up and only ran in a constant volume mode; the fan ran at full speed with no feedback to reduce air flow. A fume hood can be opened or closed using the sash; air flowing through the sash opening must always be above a certain speed. As the sash is closed the opening grows smaller and the speed of the air increases. Two additional modes of ...

Environmentally-Benign Conversion Of Biomass Residues To Electricity, Andrew Davies

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

As petroleum resources are finite, it is imperative to use them wisely in energy conversion applications and, at the same time, develop alternative energy sources. Biomass is one of the renewable energy sources that can be used to partially replace fossil fuels. Biomass-based fuels can be produced domestically and can reduce dependency on fuel imports. Due to their abundant supply, and given that to an appreciable extent they can be considered carbon-neutral, their use for power generation is of technological interest. However, whereas biomasses can be directly burned in furnaces, such a conventional direct combustion technique is ill-controlled and typically ...

Sustainable Design Retrofit For The Visitor Center At The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Michael A. Kerksick

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Waste To Energy Conversion By Stepwise Liquefaction, Gasification And "Clean Combustion" Of Pelletized Waste Polyethylene For Electric Power Generation - In A Miniature Steam Engine, Saber Talebi Anaraki

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

The amounts of waste plastics discarded in developed countries are increasing drastically, and most are not recycled. The small fractions of the post-consumer plastics which are recycled find few new uses as their quality is degraded; they cannot be reused in their original applications. However, the high energy density of plastics, similar to that of premium fuels, combined with the dwindling reserves of fossil fuels make a compelling argument for releasing their internal energy through combustion, converting it to thermal energy and, eventually, to electricity through a heat engine. To minimize the emission of pollutants this energy conversion is done ...

Coupled-Notion Vs. Plucked Energy Harvesting: Which Performs Better?, Ryan St. Pierre

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

Converting a lower driving frequency to a higher generating frequency has been shown to increase power outputs of low frequency vibrational energy harvesters. This approach, known as frequency up conversion, requires interaction between a lower resonant frequency element and a higher resonant frequency element. The interaction between the two elements can be based on impact or on non-contact interactions. Two forms of impact-based frequency up conversion for energy harvesters are coupled-motion harvesting and plucked harvesting. In coupled-motion harvesting, a driving beam impacts a generating beam. The beams then move together and energy is extracted primarily during the coupled-motion phase. In ...

The Rate-Controlled Constrained-Equilibrium Modeling Of C1-C2/O2/Diluent Mixtures, Ghassan Jawdat Nicolas

Mechanical Engineering Dissertations

The method of Rate-Controlled Constrained-Equilibrium (RCCE) has been further developed to study the combustion of CH₄/Air and C₂H₅OH/O₂/Diluent mixtures. The method is based on local maximization of entropy or minimization of a relevant free energy at any time during the non-equilibrium evolution of the system subject to a set of kinetic constraints. These constraints are imposed by slow rate-limiting reactions. Direct integration of the rate equations for the constraint potentials were used, once the values of which are known, the concentration of all species can be calculated.

It is well established ...

An Experimental Investigation Of Impingement Heat Transfer In A Rib-Roughened Trailing-Edge Channel With Crossover Holes, Xiao Huang

Mechanical Engineering Master's Theses

Turbine cooling technology plays a critical role in increasing the thermal efficiency and power output of advanced gas turbines. The common cooling methods include the impingement cooling method, the film cooling method, and the rib roughened cooling method. This study focuses on the impingement cooling effect on a rib roughened trailing edge channel with cross over holes and aims to find the influence of blocked exit holes to the heat transfer efficiency.

A steady state liquid crystal technique was used to get the heat transfer coefficient. In this experiment, two different kinds of cross over holes were used: five tilt ...

State Of The Irish Housing Stock - Modelling The Heat Losses Of Ireland’S Existing Detached Rural Housing Stock & Estimating The Benefit Of Thermal Retrofit Measures On This Stock, Ciara Ahern, Micheal O'Flaherty, Philip Griffiths

Articles

Ireland’s housing stock has been identified as being amongst the least energy efficient in Northern Europe. Consequently, atmospheric emissions are greater than necessary. Government funded schemes have been introduced to incentivise the uptake of thermal retrofit measures in the domestic Irish market. A study of Ireland’s housing highlights the dominance of detached houses (43%), 72% of which are rurally located and are predominantly heated with fuel oil. This paper investigates the economic and carbon case for thermal retrofit measures to the existing detached, oil centrally heated, rural housing stock. The study found the case for energy efficiency measures ...

The Effects Of Physical Activity On Greenhouse Gas Emissions For Common Transport Modes In European Countries, Aidan Duffy, Robert Crawford

Articles

This paper applies a life cycle methodology to estimate activity-related contributions of transport modes to GHG emissions. The methodology uses national input-output tables, environmental accounts, household budget data and nutritional data to derive food-sector GHG coefficients of consumption for ten European countries. The food energy requirements for each mode of transport are estimated taking account of the modal activity level and energy requirements. Walking, cycling, driving and bus travel are considered. Typical national food energy-related emissions for walking, cycling, and driving ranged from 25.6 - 77.3 gCO2-eq/pass.km, 10.4 - 31.4 gCO2-eq/pass.km and 1.7 ...

Experimental Investigation Of The Fluid Temperature Field And The Thermal Performance Of Insert Devices In A Flat-Plate Solar Collector, Gurveer Singh Sandhu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An experimental study on the thermal flow behavior inside a flat-plate collector and the impact of insert devices (passive heat transfer enhancement techniques) on the thermal performance of the collector is presented. Temperature fields were obtained for different Reynolds numbers (250-650) and at different inclination angles of the collector. The results show that a stratified flow is developed inside the collector and the warmer fluid restricts itself to the upper portion of the collector only. Various new configurations of the conventional insert devices were tested over a wide range of Reynolds number (200-8000). Comparison of these devices show that in ...

Micro-Grid Wind Energy System, Aaron Steinkraus, Brian Huntziker, Cesar Hurtado

Mechanical Engineering

With the completion of a 3.5kW wind turbine located on Esculea Ranch, the power generated from the turbine was dissipated through electric resistance heaters. ABC Wind was given the task to design, build, and implement a system what will efficiently use the turbine’s harnessed power. After interviewing with the Beef Operations Manager of Escuela Ranch, it was decided to use the turbine’s power to supply supplementary water to anywhere on the ranch where and when needed by grazing cattle. The purpose of this project was to research, design, build and implement a system that would harness the ...

A Methodology For Development Of A More Parsimonious Building Energy Asset Rating Method For Energy Demand Reduction Targeting, Daire Reilly, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon, David Willis

Other resources

In accordance with national and European policies, the provision of financial assistance to residential energy consumers has led to a greater awareness of and interest in energy retrofit technologies. However, at present Irish energy consumers have no appropriate advice on the future performance of retrofit options available to them. This is a significant limitation to decision making and technology uptake, since this group need to know whether their investment is likely to be worthwhile.

The asset rating methodology developed for the certification of energy performance of buildings is the current industry standard of prediction of energy demand and post retrofit ...

Energy Storage On The Grid And The Short-Term Variability Of Wind, Eric Stephen Hittinger

Dissertations

Wind generation presents variability on every time scale, which must be accommodated by the electric grid. Limited quantities of wind power can be successfully integrated by the current generation and demand-side response mix but, as deployment of variable resources increases, the resulting variability becomes increasingly difficult and costly to mitigate. In Chapter 2, we model a co-located power generation/energy storage block composed of wind generation, a gas turbine, and fast-ramping energy storage. A scenario analysis identifies system configurations that can generate power with 30% of energy from wind, a variability of less than 0.5% of the desired power ...

Characterization Of Solar Roadways Via Computational And Experimental Investigations, Rajesh Kanna Selvaraju

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Efficiency of traditional solar panels is known to be very low and hence necessitates the use of extensive open spaces for producing solar-based electric power. In solar roadways concept, open spaces such as roads, parking lots, bicycle lanes, footpaths are proposed to be utilized. An in-depth quantitative feasibility study for implementing solar roadways in Canada is carried out considering the total available surfaces, solar panel efficiency and effects of fast moving shades. The load carrying capability of commercially available materials for the solar panel top cover is studied in an effort to examine the current as well as near-future implementation ...

Static Balancing Of The Cal Poly Wind Turbine Rotor, Derek Simon

Master's Theses and Project Reports

The balancing of a wind turbine rotor is a crucial step affecting the machine’s performance, reliability, and safety, as it directly impacts the dynamic loads on the entire structure.

A rotor can be balanced either statically or dynamically. A method of rotor balancing was developed that achieves both the simplicity of static balancing and the accuracy of dynamic balancing. This method is best suited, but not limited, to hollow composite blades of any size. The method starts by quantifying the mass and center of gravity of each blade. A dynamic calculation is performed to determine the theoretical shaking force ...

Automated Resonant Wireless Power Transfer To Remote Sensors From An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Brent Griffin

Mechanical (and Materials) Engineering -- Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wireless magnetic resonant power transfer is an emerging technology that has many advantages over other wireless power transfer methods due to its safety, lack of interference, and efficiency at medium ranges. In this thesis, we develop a wire- less magnetic resonant power transfer system that enables unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide power to, and recharge batteries of, wireless sensors and other electronics far removed from the electric grid. We address the difficulties of implementing and outfitting this system on a UAV with limited payload capabilities and develop a controller that maximizes the received power as the UAV moves into ...

Green Scheduling For Radiant Systems In Buildings, Truong X. Nghiem, Madhur Behl, George J. Pappas, Rahul Mangharam

Real-Time and Embedded Systems Lab (mLAB)

In this report we look at the problem of peak power reduction for buildings with electric radiant floor heating systems. Uncoordinated operation of a multi-zone radiant floor heating system can result in temporally correlated electricity demand surges or peaks in the building’s electricity consumption. As peak power prices are 200-400 times that of the nominal rate, this uncoordinated activity can result in high electricity costs and expensive system operation. We have previously presented green scheduling as an approach for reducing the aggregate peak power consumption in buildings while ensuring that indoor thermal comfort is always maintained. This report extends ...