A grant program funded by ASHRAE will go to promote the study and teaching of HVAC&R, and to encourage senior undergraduate students to pursue related careers.
The ASHRAE Undergraduate Senior Project Grant initiative awarded funds to 24 schools around the world. The grants totaled $110,000. Undergraduate students at the University of Alabama will use their award to develop an aerial vehicle to conduct building energy audits.
The goal of the project is to build a co-robot (human controlled with robotic assistance) quadcopter with onboard sensors including infrared temperature camera, visible light camera, heat flux sensors, direct temperature probes and location and orientation.
“The vehicle would be used to quantify envelope characteristics of hard-to-reach and large regions on modern buildings,” Zheng O’Neill, Ph.D., of the Mechanical Engineering Department and advisor of the project, said. “The information will provide engineers with systematically measured control volume characteristics. For example, infrared thermal camera data will provide information of building envelope temperature, which can be used for building infiltration diagnostics.”
Related Stories
| May 22, 2014
Facebook, Telus push the limits of energy efficiency with new data centers
Building Teams are employing a range of creative solutions—from evaporative cooling to novel hot/cold-aisle configurations to heat recovery schemes—in an effort to slash energy and water demand.
| May 22, 2014
7 ways it pays to use BIM for data centers
Here’s where AEC firms and owners are getting the most bang for the buck when using BIM/VDC to coordinate data center projects.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Sep 9, 2013
Top 25 continuing education courses on BDCuniversity
An overview of the 25 most popular continuing education courses on BDCuniversity.com.
| Jun 18, 2013
Report: HVAC occupancy sensors could slash building energy demand by 18%
Researchers at the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conclude that significant energy savings can be achieved by varying ventilation levels based on the number of people in a given space.
| Apr 1, 2013
Half of building owners use 'smart' technologies, says survey
A survey of 291 building owners by IDC Energy Insights shows that 50% of owners use smart building technologies, such as HVAC controls, lighting controls, and analytics/data management.
| Mar 27, 2013
Small but mighty: Berkeley public library’s net-zero gem
The Building Team for Berkeley, Calif.’s new 9,500-sf West Branch library aims to achieve net-zero—and possibly net-positive—energy performance with the help of clever passive design techniques.
| Feb 3, 2013
Electronic surveying improves accuracy on BIM-driven hospital project
A mechanical contractor combines an electronic surveying tool with a BIM model to make significant productivity gains in a large-scale hospital project.
