- Resume
- fasl2@illinois.edu
- Masters Candidate (Expected Graduation – August 2013)
- B.S. – Washington University in St. Louis, 2010
- Research Interests: Heat Transfer, Dynamic Modeling, Thermal Energy Storage Systems and Applications, Optimal Control
RESEARCH
This research is sponsored by the Thermo King Corporation (TK), a unit of Ingersoll Rand Company Limited (IR).
This research is being performed in conjunction with the Power & Energy Systems Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champiagn
Modern refrigerated transport technologies rely on diesel powered engines in series with air conditioning and refrigeration (A/C & R) units in order to maintain a zone temperature within a few degrees of a prescribed temperature set point. These engines are normally separate from the engines required to drive the transport unit itself due to power requirements. Maintaining the temperature set point is of utmost importance in order to ensure quality of the product(s) upon arrival at the desired location. In order to achieve desired set points, continuous cycling of the secondary diesel engine, and therefore the compressor, of the A/C & R unit over the time period of transport is required. During peak loading periods the heat transfer dynamics can greatly overpower the system cooling capacity design set points, while during off-peak conditions the system can more efficiently provide more than what is necessary. This creates increased fuel consumption levels and greater inefficiencies than a system possibly driven off of a single engine.
One proposed solution is the hybridization of both the power system through introduction of electrical storage and the thermal system through introduction of thermal energy storage (TES). This setup would eliminate the need for an extra diesel engine. Power for the A/C & R unit would be supplied from the electrical storage which is connected in series to the transport diesel engine, but will allow for charging through conventional grid power while the transport is at rest. The introduction of TES into the A/C & R unit allows for increased efficiency and capacity of the unit. During off-peak loading conditions, the TES may be charged by utilizing excess capacity from the system. Once charged to a desired capacity, the TES may be discharged and allow the rest of the A/C & R system to rest, or it may be discharged while the A/C & R system is running to provide extra capacity during periods of extreme peak loading. The tradeoffs between the electrical and thermal storage elements and the interactions of their various efficiencies with the system dynamics are the subject of primary study in this analysis.
My current research efforts are focused into modeling the system configurations associated with the addition of a TES unit into the transport A/C & R unit. The TES unit model will combine previous work with vapor compression cycle dynamics with work done on TES standalone units. Parallel and series system configurations have been chosen for the addition of the TES unit into the A/C & R unit. These configurations will provide extra degrees of freedom in the hybridized system which will allow for more control variables than a conventional system. The control scheme will collect the current conditions of the A/C & R system components as well as the current ambient and zone temperatures and then evaluate the optimal set of control variables for the most efficient current system operation.
