Energy Systems Commons^™

Development Of Novel Battery Materials For Lithium-Ion Batteries And Beyond, Jiyu Cai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As fossil fuels are depleting and causing environmental issues, it becomes imperative to widely implement renewable energies (e.g., solar and wind power). In this context, electrical energy storage (EES) systems are essential to accommodate the intermittent supply and uneven distribution of renewable energies. To this end, high-energy-density EES devices are highly demanded, such as rechargeable batteries. This dissertation presents my efforts in developing novel battery materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), and solidstate lithium batteries (SSLBs). These efforts include electrochemical evaluations of battery materials, surface modifications of electrodes via atomic layer deposition (ALD), and advanced characterizations of batteries …

High Temperature Degradation In Gan-Based Hall Effect Sensors, Alexis Anne Krone

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on understanding the effects of accelerated aging through temperature and environment on novel gallium nitride-based Hall effect magnetic field sensors and determining device reliability under electric vehicle operating conditions. The device reliability was modeled using accelerated aging for the temperatures of 200 °C, 350 °C, 450 °C, and 600 °C under various time steps unique to each temperature and either air, which is identical to operating circumstances, or argon, which would model the hermetic packaging environment. Using a high temperature furnace and oven, devices underwent high temperature storage tests at a chosen temperature and time step. Afterwards, …

Connected Water Heater Load Shifting And Energy Efficiency Evaluation For The Southeast: Winter Laboratory Assessment, Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, Karen Fenaughty

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The University of Central Florida's FSEC Energy Research Center (FSEC) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are conducting laboratory electrical load shifting experiments using the CTA-2045-A standard to demonstrate the viability of grid-connected heat pump water heaters (HPWH), compared to electric resistance water heaters (ERWH), in providing load shifting in the Southeastern United States (U.S.). The investigation applied different CTA-2045 shed and critical peak (CP) control command designs under two different water draw profiles. The highly-controlled laboratory experiments were conducted on four HPWHs and one ERWH from December 2020 through February 2021.

The research aimed to evaluate the load shifting …

Comparison Of The Residential Provisions Of The 7th Edition (2020) Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation With The 2021 Iecc, Florida Solar Energy Center, Jeffrey Sonne

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report provides a comparison between the 7th Edition (2020) Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation (FBC-EC) and 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), based on approved 2018 to 2021 IECC changes included in the International Code Council's Complete Revision History to the 2021 I-Codes document. The first part of this study involved developing code change listings based on the Revision History document that identify changes that have potential energy and cost impacts. This second part of the study provides a stringency evaluation and cost-benefit analysis for those changes that impact energy use, to provide guidance for the upcoming 2020 FBC-EC …

Comparison Of The Commercial Provisions Of The 2020 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, 7th Edition With 2021 Iecc & Ashrae 90.1-2019, Florida Solar Energy Center, Bereket Nigusse

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report provides comparison of the commercial provisions of the 7th Edition (2020) Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation (FBC-EC) with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and ASHREA 90.1-2019. The first part developed code changes listing identifying energy and construction cost impacts. The second part analyzed energy and energy cost savings potential of the 2021 IECC and the 2019 ASHRAE 90.1 compared to the 2020 FBC-EC using prototype buildings energy model and simulation. And performed cost-benefit analysis of code changes with energy impact and provided recommendation for consideration by Florida Building Commission for addition to the 8th Edition (2023) …

Fluid-Structure Interaction Of Nrel 5-Mw Wind Turbine, Mohamed Sayed Elkady Abd-Elhay

Theses and Dissertations

Wind energy is considered one of the major sources of renewable energy. Nowadays, wind turbine blades could exceed 100 m to maximize the generated power and minimize produced energy cost. Due to the enormous size of the wind turbines, the blades are subjected to failure by aerodynamics loads or instability issues. Also, the gravitational and centrifugal loads affect the wind turbine design because of the huge mass of the blades. Accordingly, wind turbine simulation became efficient in blade design to reduce the cost of its manufacturing. The fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is considered an effective way to study the turbine's behavior …

Sustainable Tiny Home, Abigail Jessica Jones, Vince John Bugni, Sean Robert Paddy, Cameron Michael Gross

Mechanical Engineering

As housing prices and environmental concerns continue to increase, many people are looking for cheaper and more sustainable ways to live. A solution to both problems is building homes with smaller footprints which incorporate renewable energy and water-reclamation systems. In addition, adding a roof pond system to the dwelling also reduces the need for heating and cooling. The roof pond system uses a water bladder on the roof which acts as a heat-sink and moveable insulation panels. This document contains the process for our final design along with results from testing the verification prototype.

Cal Poly Wind Power: Wind Turbine Prototype, Sophie A. Spencer, Maggie Nevrly, Michael Reyna, Loi Q. Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering

The Cal Poly Wind Power (CPWP) club is competing in the Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The CWC is hosted annually by NREL to increase the number of skilled workers prepared to work in the wind energy industry. Our senior project team is one of several design teams contributing to the CPWP prototype turbine design including the pitching mechanism, blade design, generator, and shaft. The scope of this project is to design the yaw mechanism, tower, and nacelle. The goal is to create components that function well with other planned components and are …

Consumer-Ready Insulated Solar Electric Cooker, Simon Ford, Sachin Gokhale, Brendan Lynn, Richard Nguyen

Mechanical Engineering

An insulated solar electric cooker, or ISEC, converts solar energy into electricity to cook food, boil water, provide heat or even help charge batteries. In this project, the focus is an ISEC with a phase change material (PCM) that helps store heat when the solar energy input is minimal, such as after the sun has set. Although a successful ISEC already exists that utilizes PCM, this product can be improved in many ways. The specific revisions investigated in this report are the improvement of the thermal efficiency with the implementation of a vacuum-sealed outer pot, the reduction of the overall …

Sustainable Energy Storage, Jacob S. Grillo, Alyse C. Coonce, Jack R. Linchey, Nick P. Schnorr

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review document covers the work we, students at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo, have performed in collaboration with Mr. Harish Bhutani and Dr. Mohammad Noori. The project’s intent is to create an energy storage system for off-grid and developing region applications using alternative technologies to lithium-ion battery storage. We plan to manufacture and assemble a scale model of the energy storage system to prove effectiveness and practicality. This system will store enough energy to power basic appliances and essential devices for a house or community. The chosen design direction will be a flywheel, as …

Power Output Modeling And Optimization For A Single Axis Tracking Solar Farm On Skewed Topography Causing Extensive Shading, Logan J. Smith

Master's Theses

Many utility-scale solar farms use horizontal single axis tracking to follow the sun throughout the day and produce more energy. Solar farms on skewed topography produce complex shading patterns that require precise modeling techniques to determine the energy output. To accomplish this, MATLAB was used in conjunction with NREL weather predictions to predict shading shapes and energy outputs. The MATLAB models effectively predicted the sun’s position in the sky, panel tilt angle throughout the day, irradiance, cell temperature, and shading size. The Cal Poly Gold Tree Solar Farm was used to validate these models for various lengths of time. First, …

Implementing A Data Acquisition System For The Training Of Cloud Coverage Neural Networks, Weston C. Montgomery

Master's Theses

Cal Poly is home to a solar farm designed to nominally generate 4.5 MW of electricity. The Gold Tree Solar Farm (GTSF) is currently the largest photovoltaic array in the California State University (CSU) system, and it was claimed to be able to produce approximately 11 GWh per year. These types of projections come from power generation models which have been developed to predict power production of these large solar fields. However, when it comes to near-term forecasting of power generation with variable sources such as wind and solar, there is definitely room for improvement.

The two primary factors that …

Investigation Of Two-Phase Flow Phenomena In Rotating Paper Dryer To Achieve Effective Heat Transfer With Low Energy Consumption, Hamed Abdul Majeed

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The paper industry provides important consumer products comprised of paper, tissue, paper board, and pulping. The papermaking process requires a lot of energy, in the form of steam, to dry the paper web in rotating dryers. As steam condenses inside the dryers by releasing heat to the dryer walls, the condensate is removed using either stationary or rotary siphons. Since the condensate is usually at a saturated state, part of the condensate flashes into vapor during the extraction process and becomes difficult to extract. Thus, additional blow-through steam is used to push the condensate out. Since this blow-through steam is …

Mitigation Of Airborne Contaminant Spread Through Simple Interventions In An Occupied Single-Family Home, Florida Solar Energy Center, Nazim Muradov

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Historically, reducing aerosol-based transmission of respired viruses in indoor environments has been of importance for controlling influenza viruses and common-cold rhinoviruses. The present public health emergency associated with SARS-CoV-2 makes this topic critically important. Yet to be tested is the potential effectiveness of simple interventions that create an isolation zone (IZ) for a suspected/confirmed sick or sensitive person requiring quarantine. The intent in existing homes is to find a practical means to mitigate exposure to airborne contaminants. In creating an IZ in an occupied single-family home in the study, four simple strategies were tested. The test configurations were: (1) IZ …

A Self-Tunable Piezoelectric Energy Harvester, Ashraf Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a new technique to harvest energy using inertial vibration energy harvesters is introduced. A triple-layer piezoelectric beam with a self-tunable frequency was developed in order to respond to variable-frequency excitations, thereby maintaining the beam in a state of resonance for maximum power output. The tuning mechanism managed to change the natural frequency of the beam in the range of 2.27 ���� to 6.25 ����. In this case, the output voltage could be raised from 12�� to 23��.

A mathematical model was developed to investigate the natural frequency, the output voltage, and the output power of the beam …

Desalination For Sustainable Water Production With An Emphasis On Low Pressure Distillation, Jessica Vivian Savage

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Freshwater resources depletion is a growing concern. This freshwater scarcity motivates research into seawater desalination as a means for alleviating the stresses on water demands. The primary methods of desalination include filtration and distillation. This paper explores the potential energy savings of vacuum distillation for seawater desalination to reduce the amount of energy needed to achieve phase change.

Depending on the vacuum boiler design, the vaporization mechanism may be boiling, evaporation, or cavitation. There is very little literature on cavitation that involves mass transfer, so cavitation is not developed here. This thesis focuses on standard models for boiling and evaporation …

Lab Home Testing Of Residential Isolation Space Control To Minimize Infectious Disease Transmission In Existing Single-Family Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Tanvir Khan

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Existing evidence strongly suggests that viral infectious diseases can be transmitted via an airborne route across distances in indoor environments. Accordingly, the risk of airborne transmission within homes should be managed. The public health emergency associated with SARS-CoV-2 makes controlling airborne transmission of respired viruses in indoor environments critical, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments. The effectiveness of engineering interventions requiring minor efforts that create a negative-pressure isolation zone (IZ) for a contagious person has yet to be tested for existing residential homes.

To mitigate the risk of airborne virus transmission and maximize health protection for the population in existing …

Lab Home Testing Of Residential Isolation Space Control To Minimize Infectious Disease Transmission In Existing Single-Family Homes - Fact Sheet, Florida Solar Energy Center, Tanvir Khan

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The FSEC Energy Research Center at the University of Central Florida performed research to test the effectiveness of interventions to isolate an ill person recovering from a contagious disease in a single-family home from the rest of the occupants in the home. Focus was placed on interventions requiring minor cost and effort on the part of the occupants.

DOE/GO-102021-5537, https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/79519.pdf

Simultaneous Thermal Zoning And Demand Control Ventilation, Jose Rodriguez

Mechanical Engineering Theses

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems include the equipment used to control the conditions and distribution of indoor air in any closed environment that requires certain variables, such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, etc. to be controlled to levels of human comfort and safety, and to levels that keep machines and other devices in special conditions to protect them or guarantee their best performance. In developed countries, HVAC energy consumption is usually between 25% and 42% of the total energy consumption. Thermal zooning and demand control ventilation have shown improvements in comfort and energy consumption savings. The …

Economic Feasibility Of Mixed Plastic Waste Pyrolysis Using Twin Reactor System In Northwest Arkansas, Carol Rogers, Patricia Means, Renato Gonzalez, Kaida Sheets, Hayden Townsend

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Plastic waste generation is increasing at an unsustainable rate while recycling solutions remain stagnant. As a chemical means of recycling, mixed plastic waste pyrolysis can generate synthetic oil appropriate for use as fuel in power generation from plastic waste that otherwise accumulates in landfills. With the scaling of a commercial plastic pyrolysis process in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) modeled after an operational sawdust pyrolysis unit in Huntsville, Arkansas, economic analysis resulted in 26.3% internal rate of return. Therefore, construction of a commercial mixed plastic-to-fuel pyrolysis plant is economically justified and should be pursued. To effectively implement the proposed design, NWA must …