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

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响是开发一种热管理系统，能够减少在2009年电气和电子工程师协会（IEEC）能源法规实施之前建造的美国中低收入多户家庭的能源效率低下。为了实现这一目标，同时与到2035年将碳排放量减少50%的目标保持一致，需要在建造新住房和改造现有住房方面进行改进。有了新技术，这一努力将有利于面临与之相关的不成比例的能源负担、城市热岛和极端冷热天气的弱势群体。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该技术的翻译潜力。该解决方案是基于外壳或外壳热管理系统的开发。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封闭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。这种努力代表了对现有的外壳热管理方法的背离，这种方法通常依赖于被动绝缘材料和集中的基于制冷剂的加热和冷却系统。该团队正在开发一种微创、大面积交互冷却、加热和能量存储技术，该技术将Peltier冷却和加热与热能存储和低功耗温度传感相结合，创造出一种能够将加热和冷却负荷降低约20-30%的热管理系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.