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Mechanical Engineering Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Evaluating The Performance Of Passive Chilled Beams With Respect To Energy Efficiency And Thermal Comfort, Janghyun Kim Dec 2016

Evaluating The Performance Of Passive Chilled Beams With Respect To Energy Efficiency And Thermal Comfort, Janghyun Kim

Open Access Dissertations

Existing modeling approaches for passive chilled beams determined from tests on individual chilled beams in a laboratory are not adequate for assessing overall energy usage and occupant comfort within building simulation programs. In addition, design guidelines for passive chilled beam systems are needed for identifying appropriate applications and optimal configurations. This thesis includes (i) extensive experimental studies for characterizing the performance of passive chilled beams, in both laboratory settings and in field studies, (ii) development of passive chilled beam performance prediction models, (iii) integration of these models into building simulation models/tools and (iv) use of building simulation for overall assessment …


Development And Use Of The Energy Model Of A Research And Demonstration House With Advanced Design Features, Nelson Fumo, Vicente Bortone Jun 2016

Development And Use Of The Energy Model Of A Research And Demonstration House With Advanced Design Features, Nelson Fumo, Vicente Bortone

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Advances on manufacturing processes and the use of new materials are increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies to a point that their deployment will reach desired levels for the sake of energy security and environmental concerns. Along these advances, the demonstration of the cost-effectiveness of this technology is vital to educate people and promote deployment of these technologies. In this sense, at the University of Texas at Tyler, two research and demonstration houses were built. House #1 is a conventional design with some advanced features, and House #2 has more advanced design …


How Can Occupancy Modeling And Occupancy Sensors Reduce Energy Usage In Academic Buildings: An Application Approach To University Of San Francisco, Paloma R. Duong May 2016

How Can Occupancy Modeling And Occupancy Sensors Reduce Energy Usage In Academic Buildings: An Application Approach To University Of San Francisco, Paloma R. Duong

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are amongst the highest energy consumers relative to industry and transportation. They account for 40% of the world’s energy consumption, due to the need for lighting, equipment, heating, cooling and ventilation. Academic buildings are multi-purpose buildings that create a challenge on energy reduction. Most are old and have fixed occupancy schedules, resulting in high energy consumption because these buildings experience significant occupancy variation throughout the day. Five academic buildings were analyzed; their building information, energy consumption data and methods to project energy savings have been analyzed. The case studies presented different strategies on predicting energy savings, but these have …


Hybrid Metal Oxide Cycle Water Splitting, Richard B. Diver Jr, Robert D. Palumbo, Nathan P. Siegel, James E. Miller Jan 2016

Hybrid Metal Oxide Cycle Water Splitting, Richard B. Diver Jr, Robert D. Palumbo, Nathan P. Siegel, James E. Miller

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Hybrid thermochemical water splitting cycles are provided in which thermally reduced metal oxides particles are used to displace some but not all of the electrical requirements in a water splitting electrolytic cell. In these hybrid cycles, the thermal reduction temperature is significantly reduced compared to two-step metal-oxide thermochemical cycles in which only thermal energy is required to produce hydrogen from water. Also, unlike the conventional higher temperature cycles where the reduction step must be carried out under reduced oxygen pressure, the reduction step in the proposed hybrid cycles can be carried out in air, allowing for thermal input by a …