Integrating a Cogeneration Facility into Engineering Education

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A study of energy production and management with the analysis of real-time data from a newly constructed 25MW cogeneration facility is being incorporated into the Chemical and Mechanical Engineering curricula. Providing students real time data from actual processes, along with the modeling tools necessary to make sense of the data,is enlivening and enriching such subjects as Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Systems Analysis, and Process Control. The tools being developing are based on universal platforms: Excel; VBA; and, widely available commercial process simulators.The data, web-available, is allowing sophomore-year students to perform real-world material and energy balance calculations on major unit operations including gas and steam turbines, air conditioning systems, cooling towers, and boilers. Topics including data reduction and data reconciliation will be introduced naturally. Junior-year students are exploring advanced process modeling, including energy recovery in a heat recovery steam generator. Vertical integration of such individual operations is enabling senior-year students to explore global issues in energy production and management, including the optimization of utility costs and the analysis of process dynamics associated with process upsets and highly variable loads, and the resulting optimal control strategies.