Energy Systems Commons^™

Cost Effectiveness Of Energy Efficiency And On-Site Photovoltaic Power For 2015 Iecc Energy Rating Index (Eri) Compliance (Draft), Florida Solar Energy Center, Philip W. Fairey

FSEC Energy Research Center®

EnergyGauge® USA v.5.1 is used to simulate the energy use of one-story, three-bedroom, 2000 ft² , single-family, frame homes in sixteen representative U.S. climates comprising all eight IECC climate zones. The energy use of the Section R406.2 minimum efficiency home (the Baseline Home) is compared against the energy use of homes complying with the prescriptive requirements of Section R402 of the 2015 IECC and against homes complying with the Section R406 Energy Rating Index (ERI) Compliance Alternative. The improvement cost and energy savings of the improved homes relative to the Baseline Home are then used to determine the cost …

Wake Character In The Wind Turbine Array: (Dis-)Organization, Spatial And Dynamic Evolution And Low-Dimensional Modeling, Nicholas Michael Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

To maximize the effectiveness of the rapidly increasing capacity of installed wind energy resources, new models must be developed that are capable of more nuanced control of each wind turbine so that each device is more responsive to inflow events. Models used to plan wind turbine arrays and control behavior of devices within the farm currently make questionable estimates of the incoming atmospheric flow and update turbine configurations infrequently. As a result, wind turbines often operate at diminished capacities, especially in arrays where wind turbine wakes interact and inflow conditions are far from ideal. New turbine control and wake prediction …

Go With The Flow –Thermoelectric Energy, Shawn Bell

Middle School Lesson Plans

In this unit, students will learn how thermal energy be transferred and transformed. They will carry out investigations to gather evidence to support an explanation about direct conversion of heat into electrical energy. They will develop a model that shows the components of the system and changes in the system being investigated, and they will use evidence from the investigation to construct an explanation for how the energy flows.

Advanced Technologies For Sustainable Systems, Hesham Safwat

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

2015 Electric Vehicle Market Summary And Barriers, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The object of this research report is to present the current market status of plug-in-electric vehicles (PEVs) and to predict their future penetration within the world and U.S. markets. The sales values for 2015 show that China leads in yearly sales at 214,283 (triple increase for 2014) followed by Western Europe at 184,500 vehicles sold. The U.S. is third at 115,262 followed by Japan at 46,339 vehicles. These four countries comprise 95% of the global sales market. The world total of EV sales for 2015 is estimated to be 565,668 up from 315,519 in 2014. This data also shows that …

Significance Of Parameters Affecting The Performance Of A Passive Down-Draft Evaporative Cooling (Pdec) Tower With A Spray System, Daeho Kang, Richard K. Strand

Publications and Research

PDEC towers with spray systems are known to achieve substantial energy savings. Various parameters such as the wet-bulb depression, the tower height, and the wind speed have been known to be key factors affecting the performance of the system. To date, the significance of these parameters and other important factors have not been adequately treated in the literature. There also has been a lack of models that can successfully investigate potential benefits of the system under various conditions where this particular system could be applicable. To address these critical issues, this study performed a parametric analysis by using a FLUENT …

Fluid Analysis In Solar Heat Pipes, Ben Krumholz, Michael Agavo, William Dundon

Mechanical Engineering

Evacuated tube solar collectors are efficient systems that use heat pipes to facilitate heat transfer. They use incoming solar radiation to heat water. Professor Mason Medizade tasked the team with choosing a component of the system to research and test its influence on system performance. The team investigated the working fluid that runs through the heat pipes. Distilled water, acetone, and ethanol at a range of fill volumes form 1 mL to 11 mL were tested. The team's goal was to find a volume for each fluid to maximize performance of the system. Performance was defined as average temperature rise …

Disc Brake Energy Conversion, D. Coleman Badgley, Jeffrey W. Powell

Mechanical Engineering

The original goal of this project was to complete the design and building of a disc brake energy conversion project started by a former senior project team, and then spend a majority of the year performing testing in order to see if the device could be used to accurately calculate the Joule's constant. However, due to unforeseen complications and obstacles, the design and manufacturing portion of the project ended up taking much longer than anticipated. A majority of this time was spent designing the hydraulic plumbing system that would actuate the brakes. The previous team purchased some hydraulic parts and …

Me 350 Air Conditioning Experiment, Joshua Baida, Ellie Hallner, Tyler Eschenbach

Mechanical Engineering

In keeping with Cal Poly's focus on physically applying the concepts learned in the classroom, our team of engineering students has compiled a laboratory experiment displaying the basic thermodynamic cycle found in air conditioning systems. This vapor compression cycle is displayed on a visualization board that features all four major components of the system: the compressor, the evaporator, the condenser, and the throttling valve. Students will take measurements of temperature and pressure at each stage in the cycle and also gauge the power draw from the compressor to gain an understanding of how performance and electricity cost come into play …

Prosthetic Socket Cooling System, Benjamin K. Kraw, Kathy Ha, Derek Piastrelli, Cuong Lai

Mechanical Engineering

A team of four senior-level undergraduate students in the Interdisciplinary Senior Project Design course in the Engineering Department of California Polytechnic State University: San Luis Obispo have worked to develop a prosthetic socket cooling system, namely for veteran Taylor Morris and exclusively for a transfemoral prosthetic socket, under the Quality of Life+ Laboratory. This cooling system will utilize the thermoelectric effect known as the Peltier effect to transmit heat generated from the residual limb to the surrounding environment by means of forced convection over small aluminum heat sinks. Two measurement devices have also been developed to, one, measure the heat …

Multi-Stage Axial Compressor With Counter-Rotation Using Accessory Drive, Vinod Gehlot, Magdy S. Attia

Publications

A multi-stage axial compressor for counter rotation. A first series of rotor blade assemblies are mounted on and rotate with the driveshaft, each rotor blade assembly of the first series comprising a rotating stage of the multi-stage axial compressor. A second series of rotor blade assemblies provide a counter-rotating stage of the multi-stage axial compressor. An accessory drive links the second series of rotor blade assemblies to the driveshaft and causes counter-rotation of the second series of rotor blade assemblies.

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 …

Energy Models Of The Txaire Houses, Tajudeen Amadu Annafi

Mechanical Engineering Theses

Model calibration is important as its functions improve building models. A calibrated model of the TxAIRE Houses #1 and #2 have been developed using the OpenStudio software. The model was developed and calibrated with data of the year 2014 but can be used predict electricity consumption of any year.

An actual meteorological year (AMY) weather file was also created for the houses which was used for calibration. The data used to develop this weather file were measured on-site which improved the accuracy of the model. It was found that an error difference of -1.0 % and -4.2 % occurred between …

Evaluating The Economic Impacts Of The Legislatively Delayed Provisions Of The 5th Edition (2014) Florida Building Code (Final Report), Florida Solar Energy Center, Robin Vieira

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This research provides an assessment of the potential economic impacts of implementing three legislatively delayed requirements of the Florida Building Code, 5th Edition (2014): 1) residential air leakage testing, 2) residential whole-house mechanical ventilation, and 3) two fire service access elevators for applicable buildings.

Least Cost Analysis For Solar Photovoltaic Maintenance Of The Wmu Miller Auditorium Array, Kelsey Pitschel

Honors Theses

The solar photovoltaic array at Miller Auditorium is a 50 kW DC system that has relied on five seasonal angle adjustments and no cleaning measures to reach an average of 64.7 MWh annual energy generation since 2012 1 . This amount of energy generation yields $7,046 in annual energy savings based on current market pricing for end use electricity of $0.1089/kWh 2 . The current adjustment schedule based on seasonal tilts accounts for an annual costs between $760 and $848, but actual adjustments have historically not taken place according to the existing schedule. The analysis focuses on optimizing net energy …

Human-Assisted Fluid Power Vehicle, Aaron Huntoon

Honors Theses

The rising cost of energy has prompted industrial and technology companies to research and implement renewable or green energy sources in every aspect of their business. This green technology can consist of sources such as: solar, wind, fluid, or others to create energy from renewable sources. The use of these various sources reduces the pollution associated with standard methods of energy development, and it will ultimately drive costs down to benefit the general population. One of the largest benefactors to the use of renewable energy sources is the transportation industry. Billions of people rely on various modes of transportation every …

Designing An Accessible Hall Effect Thruster, Matthew Baird

Honors Theses

A group of three Mechanical Engineering students have selected to design a 200 W Hall Effect Thruster to fulfill the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering senior design project. Preliminary studies were performed on the theory behind electric propulsion and plasma physics. The group designed the Western Hall Thruster and used COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation software to refine the magnetic circuit. The group then fabricated and performed magnetic testing of their thruster in Western Michigan University’s Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments. This testing will seek to prove that a standard research HET can be built by universities without substantial financial resources.

Automated, Autonomous And Connected Vehicle Technology Assessment, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and almost every state DOT are showing extreme interest in the application of automated and connected vehicles (ACV). This combined application can significantly reduce crashes, energy consumption, pollution and the costs of congestion which in turn will offer a fundamental change to the U.S. transportation network and system. The objective of this technology assessment project is to evaluate the vehicle technologies, actions, laws and policies that are now in place and to assess their future usage. The assessment also evaluates the highest level of automated vehicles called autonomous or self-driving vehicles. In fact, autonomous …

Development Of Distributed Off-Grid Renewable Energy System For Rural African Communities, Mateo Sebastian Guerrero, Menghong Feng

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

Our Hybrid Energy System team is committed to develop low-cost renewable energy solutions to rural African communities where access to electricity from government grid is not available. According to a World Bank’s report, only 24% of sub-Saharan countries have access to electricity. Our team has been working with local partners to build renewable energy systems since 2008. From 2015 the team has been working on micro hydropower turbine and vertical-axis wind turbine with solar energy system combined. Our current efforts include a prototype design of a wind-solar system, using a new concept of vertical axis wind turbine to harvest wind …

A Techno-Economic Analysis Of Wind Generation In Conjunction With Compressed Air Energy In The Integrated Single Electricity Market., Brendan Cleary

Doctoral

The Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM) is the proposed wholesale electricity market for Ireland and it is intended to replace the current Single Electricity Market (SEM) by 2018. Subsequently, substantial modifications will be required to the SEM and this has led to significant uncertainty for stakeholders. The SEM currently features no forecast risk for renewables such as wind and there is no concept of balance responsibility. Under the I-SEM, wind generation will be exposed to forecast risk and the requirement to be balance responsible. The use of Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) could represent a better system configuration which would …