Innovation Testbeds
 The new flow visualization lab, located in the lab wing of the Syracuse Center of Excellence, is headed by Syracuse University assistant professor Melissa Green. Professor Green uses the lab to visualize the complex dynamics of fluid flows by using sheets of laser light to illuminate dyes injected in a water channel. The lab will begin to run experiments next year, 2013.
Laboratory Setup
The laboratory is being constructed at the Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) in two locations. Two (2) gas-fired units are located in stations 1 and 2 on the first floor. The 1st floor location allows for a conventional natural-draft, gas-fired water heater, by using the existing flue in the space. The other seven (7) systems are located on the fourth floor. Three of the test stations allow for power-vented gas-fired units (stations 6, 7 and 8) and four other stations (stations 3, 4, 5, and 9) can support electric units, which will include the conventional electric tank, two solar systems, and a heat pump water heater. The solar collectors will be located on the roof of the building, which is above the 5th floor (see Figure 3). Each test station is built around a metal and plywood frame for mounting the necessary utilities (cold water, hot water, gas, and electric) and as well as control wiring and instrumentation.
Research
This research is related to individual control of one’s indoor micro-environment. In a typical office building, each thermal zone, typically comprised of several office spaces, has its own temperature set point, or thermostat. The resulting “One-Size-Fits-All: OSFA” thermal environment may leave as many as 30% of the occupants dissatisfied and less productive. In order to satisfy every person’s thermal comfort requirement, individual control of the thermal micro-environment of each occupant is required, i.e., adopting a “Have-It-Your-Way: HIYW” approach. However, a HIYW strategy will result in imbalances among the individual micro-environments, giving rise to energy and mass fluxes between adjacent environments, making energy efficient individual control all the more challenging. The purpose of this research is to investigate the interactions among multiple individually-controlled micro-environments and, subsequently, to develop practical methods to minimize the adverse effects of such interactions on energy consumption.
More Information Coming Soon!
Biofuels Pilot-scale Testbed
Combustion Lab
Thermal Systems Lab
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