Energy Systems Commons^™

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 …

Analysis Of Fluid Flow In Redox Flow Batteries, Erfan Asadipour

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Redox flow batteries (RFB) hold great potential for large-scale stationary energy storage. However, their low energy density compared to other energy storage systems must improve for feasibility. Electrolyte flow distribution affects current density distribution and providing a uniform current density distribution is one way to improve RFB performance. Additionally, reducing the power consumption of the electrolytes’ pump as a source of energy loss in RFB systems increases their efficiency. Investigating both subjects requires analysis of the fluid dynamics in RFB cells.

In this thesis, a novel, computationally cost-effective hydraulic-electrical analogous model (HEAM) was developed to study fluid dynamics by implementing …

Nanoscratch Study Of Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings With A Polydopamine + Sio2 Adhesive Underlayer, Anna Fisher

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings have a wide array of desirable characteristics such as low friction, high hardness, and scratch resistance. Due to high residual stress and thermal mismatch, DLC films experience adhesion difficulties when bonded with metallic substrates, leading to cracking and delamination. In this study, the properties of a new coating with a polydopamine underlayer and silica nanoparticles bonded to a stainless-steel substrate (PDA+SiO2/DLC) were studied alongside three other samples, one with a polydopamine underlayer (PDA/DLC), one with a trimethylsilane (TMS) underlayer (TMS/DLC), and one with no underlayer (DLC only). Nanoscratch tests were performed with a 1 μm spheroconical …

Evaluation And Sizing Of Solar Powered Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination System, Sandip Subedi

Honors Theses

About 71 % of the surface of Earth is water, out of which around 2.5 % is freshwater. The majority of the surface of Earth is occupied by seawater which also contains dissolved salt. The salt concentration in seawater makes it toxic to humans because the human body is unable to get rid of the salt that comes from seawater. The demand for fresh water is increasing due to the rise in global population. In this context, desalinated seawater is considered as a viable resource to meet the growing demand for fresh water. Desalination process is highly energy intensive due …

Feasibility Study Of Portable Solar Powered Blood Storing Refrigerator, Saroj Subedi

Honors Theses

This report is focused on the preliminary feasibility of portable solar-powered blood-storing refrigerators primarily based on calculations of energy required to maintain the temperature of the refrigerator, the electricity required throughout the day, calculating sufficiency of power supplied by the solar panel, and selection of battery for power storage. The method and the trend of a feasibility study involve the study of blood properties, separation of blood components after donation, and their storage conditions. Then, the portable size of the refrigeration has been proposed with three different compartments for storage of each blood component. The further methods involve the selection …

Performance And Economics Of Solar Inverters And Module Level Power Electronics In A 1 Mw Photovoltaic System, Maxwell Criswell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Photovoltaic solar panels convert sunlight to electricity in the form of direct current; therefore, a necessary component of every photovoltaic system is an inverter to convert the electricity to usable alternating current. There are various commercially available inverter technologies manufactured today such as microinverters, string inverters, and central inverters, as well as module level power electronic devices such as DC optimizers that are capable of improving system performance in string and central inverter systems. This thesis compares the performance and economics of five different inverter and module level power electronic systems through model simulation using Helioscope software. The five alternatives …

Sizing And Economics Of Solar Powered Indoor Swimming Pool, Aman Bhatta

Honors Theses

With increasing global population and aspiration for higher standards for living, there is a rapid increase in demand for energy. With the concerns of climate change becoming ever more pressing, a shift from the conventional energy source to an alternative green version to meet the energy demand could be of significant interest. A large amount of energy is required to maintain water temperature in the swimming pool at a human comfort temperature. Several studies have been performed to calculate and evaluate the feasibility of powering thermal systems for swimming pools using solar energy. Still, extensive analysis using solar thermal energy …

Parametric Design Of Flywheel For An Electric Punch Press, Prashant Dhakal

Honors Theses

Almost all designs start with a design requirement. These may be weight, volume, clearance, and even custom calculations. Finding a solution that meets these requirements often involves tedious and time-consuming iterations. Once the solution has been found, the design must be optimized to find the best possible solution. Finding the ‘best possible design’ requires substantial time and effort dedicated to iterating and analyzing the potential model solutions. This is where Parametric design comes into play. The Parametric design aids in specifying the key parameters of the design and makes changes interactively, with the model updating automatically. The purpose of this …

Computational Study On Suppression Of Airfoil Flow Separation Using High-Frequency Translational Surface Actuation, Bibek Gupta

Honors Theses

Flow separation is a phenomenon that occurs when pressure increases in the streamwise direction of a flow, making a distinctive boundary layer or separation bubble. It causes aircraft to experience an increase in drag and noise and a decrease in a lift, hence degrading their aviation performance. This study uses numerical simulations to understand better the effects of high-frequency translational surface actuation (HFTSA) on flow separation control. The numerical simulations mimic the experimental parameters of an experiment performed by Okoye et al. on using the HFTSA system to control flow separation. A symmetrical airfoil structure of chord length of 0.3 …

Design Of Smart Trashcan, Haoran Song

Senior Theses

A smart trashcan has been designed which can bring convenience to people for throwing their garbage away during the COVID-19 pandemic. A prototype is made from cardboard to demonstrate its function. This trashcan can sense people who are coming and leaving, and it can open and close automatically. The trashcan is powered by solar energy. A solar panel is mounted on top of the trashcan supporter. This design is specifically for use in China.

Survey Of Unvented Attics In Climate Zone 2a, Florida Solar Energy Center, Eric Martin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Moisture risk must be managed in unvented attics to ensure durability of components and longevity of the system. The FSEC Energy Research Center (FSEC), at the University of Central Florida tested and collected data in six homes in the northern Florida portion of IECC Climate Zone 2A built after 2015 with unvented (semi-conditioned) attics to add to the body of knowledge on the accumulation of moisture in the attic and its effects on roof moisture that can impact durability.

Relative International Energy Conservation Code (Iecc) Energy Impacts By Compliance Path, Florida Solar Energy Center, Philip W. Fairey

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The EnergyGauge® USA (v.6.2) residential building energy simulation software tool is used to examine energy impacts in two-story, 2,376 ft², single-family homes configured in accordance with the minimum requirements of Section R402-R404 of the 2018 IECC in fourteen representative U.S. cities.⁴ EnergyGauge USA is a RESNET-accredited HERS software tool capable of evaluating not only the HERS Index and the IECC Section R406 Energy Rating Index Compliance Alternative but also the IECC Section R405 Simulated Performance Alternative as well as the IECC Section R402 R-Value and Total UA Alternative prescriptive methods along with all of the IECC mandatory …

Accelerated Controller Tuning For Wind Turbines Under Multiple Hazards, Aly Mousaad Aly, Milad Rezaee

Faculty Publications

During their lifecycle, wind turbines can be subjected to multiple hazard loads, such as high-intensity wind, earthquake, wave, and mechanical unbalance. Excessive vibrations, due to these loads, can have detrimental effects on energy production, structural lifecycle, and the initial cost of wind turbines. Vibration control by various means, such as passive, active, and semi-active control systems provide crucial solutions to these issues. We developed a novel control theory that enables semi-active controller tuning under the complex structural behavior and inherent system nonlinearity. The proposed theory enables the evaluation of semi-active controllers’ performance of multi-degrees-of-freedom systems, without the need for time-consuming …

Smud Solar Regatta, Logan Garby, Nam Le, Jacob Singer, Alejandro Carrera, Laura Casas

Mechanical Engineering

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) hosts the Solar Regatta every year in Rancho Seco, CA, a competition which consists of teams building a solar powered boat to compete in three races: the sprint race, endurance race, and slalom race. The Cal Poly Solar Regatta team was informed mid-project by SMUD that the competition has been canceled once again for spring 2021, but the team decided to move forward with the construction of the boat. The previous Cal Poly team from 2019/2020 designed the hull and propulsion system of the boat. The 2020/2021 team worked with the previous team in …

Improving Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (Vawt) Performance With Placement Strategies: Final Report, Patrick A. Tebbe, Nazli A. Yilmaz Wodzinski, Namyong Lee

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Department Publications

This project was focused on the use and placement of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). Studies were focused on areas not typically addressed in previous work; small wind at very low elevations (i.e. within the boundary layer). Numerical studies were made of how VAWTs function as well as the potential wind environments they may be placed in. A simplified numerical code, based on two-dimensional potential flow functions, was developed to model flow around buildings and other structures. The code allows a rapid determination of regions where flow may experience speed-up and where turbulence may result.

Experimental facilities were designed and …

Resilient Florida Buildings: Alternative Fuel Options For Maintaining Power During Outages, Brochure, Florida Solar Energy Center, Colleen Mccann Kettles

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Electricity outages impact buildings as well as the fueling infrastructure that delivers energy resources for power generation and transportation. A fueling infrastructure with minimal downtime during power outages is needed to increase the resiliency of buildings and the economy. This brochure describes alternative fuels to consider for a buildings resiliency plan. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Energy Technology Development Program Award Number DE-EE0008880. FSEC Art#: BLDG-89 Updated: 05/20/2021

Metal And Flexible Duct Systems Impacts Upon Cooling Energy And Performance, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Flexible duct is commonly used throughout the U.S. in residential construction. It performs well when installed in accordance with industry standards, however, they are often not installed as such. Issues such as not cutting ducts to the exact length needed, and instead using significantly more duct, result in compression and higher static pressure. Poorly supported ducts or turns without proper radius also increase static pressure. A research project was completed to evaluate the differences in performance between a metal duct and flexible duct systems in two side-by-side otherwise identical residential laboratories. Testing evaluated three different flex duct system configurations compared …

Nebraska Summary: S1150a Fendt 1050, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Renewable Energy Production By Solar Chimney: The Influence Of Curved Guide Vanes On The Performance Of A Solar Chimney Using Cfd Simulation, Haokun Xue

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the guide vanes on the efficiency of the turbine of solar chimney power plant using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In this study, a 3-Dimentional CFD simulation of solar chimney power plant based on the Manzanares prototype is performed. The CFD simulation is validated by comparing the experimental data from the Manzanares prototype and simulation data with both 2D and 3D cases. To capture turbulent flow inside the chimney, the SST 𝑘 − 𝜔 turbulence model is used. The first object is to investigate the flow performance under the influence …