Allison Lenhart | Mechanical
Dr. Donghyun Rim, Advisor
Mid-Atlantic Region, United States
PROPOSAL
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL
UPDATED PROPOSAL
December 7, 2018
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL
January 21, 2019
UPDATED PROPOSAL
DEPTH TOPICS
BREADTH TOPICS
ENCLOSURE
The main focus of the mechanical depth is to determine what energy recovery methods will result in the greatest energy savings as well as what options are most cost effective. The main methods that will be tested for Mid-Atlantic University College of Engineering include the following:
Heat Recovery Chiller
Cascading Air
Enthalpy Wheel
Glycol Runaround Loop
Heat Pipe
Currently, glycol runaround loops are implemented on only the North wing of the building but this design will be compared to a control with no glycol heat recovery as well as the other heat recovery methods laid out above. Determining the ideal heat recovery method will involve testing against the original design that used the central plant as well as a building a local plant that would require less pumping energy and less distribution losses.
The second portion of the mechanical depth focuses on the implementation of geothermal rather than relying on the campus central plant. Geothermal would work in conjunction with the energy recovery methods discussed above. The new College of Engineering building at Mid-Atlantic University has a significant amount of parking lots and empty space surrounding it so there is sufficient space for the geothermal wells.
The building envelope can have a significant impact on the building’s energy usage depending on how well the wall is designed to resist moisture and heat from entering the building. The current wall envelope meets code minimum but this breadth will analyze designs above code minimum for energy purposes. Sometimes improving the envelope helps the overall energy use of the building but in other scenarios, the envelope does not have a huge impact on energy usage and therefore different energy saving measures are implemented. In this envelope optimization study, wall construction in terms of insulating material and air space will be the main form of optimization. The current exterior materials will be held constant. With the studied change to the enclosure, the overall impact on energy savings will be analyzed along with envelope performance in terms of condensation and potential mold growth. If envelope improvements reduce the overall cooling and heating load of the building, the owner’s operating cost will be significantly reduced and the envelope enhancement would be worth the investment. To fully determine if the new envelope should be implemented, energy use, wall performance, capital cost and operating cost will be compared with the existing envelope.
In the design process the window selection was optimized for better thermal performance and silk screening was added on window portions visibility was not as crucial.
ELECTRICAL
The mechanical depth proposes changes to the overall building mechanical systems which would add equipment not previously part of this individual building. The change would include adding a cooling plant consisting of chillers, cooling towers, pumps, etc. which are not currently part of this building. By adding a chiller plant rather than just the distribution pumps that are currently used the overall electrical load for the College of Engineering building will be significantly increased. In this study the existing electrical loads will be analyzed and once the proposed depth alternatives are implemented the new electrical load will be determined. The building envelope improvements could decrease the envelope load on the building meaning there is less heating and cooling needed in the building. If the envelope is improved this would reduce the electrical load but would be less significant than the added cooling plant.