Engineering Commons^™

The Integration Of Heat Resources In A Solar Thermal-Heat Pump Hydronic System, John Degrove

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, roughly 41% of the energy consumed in the U.S. is used the power buildings. Within that number, almost half is used to heat or cool the building. Current technologies allow for consistent thermal management, but most utilize energy harvested from fossil fuels or convert electricity back into thermal energy. Background literature shows that the utilization of alternative heat resources such as heat pumps and solar thermal collectors can greatly reduce the energy used for heat delivery while producing adequate heating performance. A combined hydronic system using a bank of solar thermal collectors in …

A Novel Microgrid Demand-Side Management System For Manufacturing Facilities, Terance J. Harper, William J. Hutzel, James C. Foreman, Aaron L. Adams, Athula Kulatunga

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Thirty-one percent of annual energy consumption in the United States occurs within the industrial sector, where manufacturing processes account for the largest amount of energy consumption and carbon emissions. For this reason, energy efficiency in manufacturing facilities is increasingly important for reducing operating costs and improving profits. Using microgrids to generate local sustainable power should reduce energy consumption from the main utility grid along with energy costs and carbon emissions. Also, microgrids have the potential to serve as reliable energy generators in international locations where the utility grid is often unstable.

For this research, a manufacturing process that had approximately …