I-Corps: Translation potential of thermal management systems for retrofit applications and electric vehicles batteries

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛影响是开发了一种热管理系统，能够减少2009年电气和电子工程师协会(IEEC)能源法规实施之前建立的美国中低收入多户家庭的能源效率低下问题。为了实现这一目标，同时与到2035年减少50%碳排放的目标保持一致，需要在建造新住房和翻新现有住房方面做出改进。有了新技术，这一努力将被证明有利于那些经历不成比例的能源负担、城市热岛和极端炎热和寒冷天气的弱势群体。这个i-Corps项目利用体验式学习和对行业生态系统的第一手调查来评估技术的翻译潜力。该解决方案基于围护结构或围护结构热管理系统的开发。该系统的独特之处在于分散的能源管理，可以降低小型和大型外壳系统的热能使用强度，同时平衡热点、冷点和不均匀的温度分布。这种不均匀的温度分布导致能源效率低下。这一努力有别于现有的围栏热管理方法，后者往往依赖被动隔热材料和集中的基于制冷剂的供暖和制冷系统。该团队正在开发一种微创、大面积的交互式制冷、供热和储能技术，该技术将珀尔蒂埃制冷和供暖与热能储存和低功率温度传感相结合，以创建能够将供热和制冷负荷减少约20%-30%的热管理系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of a thermal management system capable of reducing the energy inefficiencies of low-to-middle-income U.S. multifamily households that were built before the 2009 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEC) Energy Codes were implemented. In order to accomplish this goal while remaining consistent with objectives to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2035, improvements will need to be made in building new housing and retrofitting existing housing. With the new technologies, this effort will prove beneficial to disadvantaged populations who experience disproportionate energy burdens associated, urban heat islands, and extreme hot and cold weather.This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. This solution is based on the development of an enclosure or envelope thermal management system. The system is unique because decentralized energy management and can reduce thermal energy use intensity in both small and large enclosure systems while balancing out the hot spots, cold spots, and uneven temperature distributions. Such uneven temperature distributions contribute to poor energy efficiency. This effort represents a departure from existing approaches for enclosure thermal management, which often relies on passive insulation materials and a centralized refrigerant-based heating and cooling system. The team is developing a minimally invasive, large area transactive cooling, heating, and energy storage technology that combines Peltier cooling and heating with thermal energy storage and low-power temperature sensing to create a thermal management system capable of reducing heating and cooling loads by ~20-30%.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.