Integrated Desert Building Technologies
(IDBT)
Ezzat Fahmy
Amr Serag-Eldin
Ehab Abdel-Rahman
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
Integrated Desert Building Technologies is a joint project between the American University in Cairo (AUC) and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST)
The Project Aims at Transfer, Development, Adaptation, and Integration of technologies in such fields as: Architecture, Structure, Materials And Construction, Energy Generation and Conservation, Water Management and Re-use, and Life Cost Analysis.
IDBT AUC Research Team
• Medhat Haroun (Principal Investigator)• Ezzat Fahmy ( Material & Structures )• Mohamed Abdel Moaty( Mat & Structures)• Mohamed Naguib (Material & Structure)• Ed Smith ( Water management & re-use)• Emad Imam( Water management & re-use)• Ehab Abdel Rahman( Energy Generation and
Conservation)• Amr Serag-Eldin( Int. Energy systems)• Ahmed Sherif( Architecture)• Osama Hosny (Life cost cycle)
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
CURRENT AND FUTURE PHASES OF
THE PROJECT
CURRENT AND FUTURE PHASES OF
THE PROJECT
Phase IDevelopmental
Studies
Phase IDevelopmental
Studies
Phase IIDemonstration
and Monitoring
Phase IIDemonstration
and Monitoring
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the
Arab World
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the
Arab World
KAUSTKAUSTAUC/KAUSTAUC/KAUST
Phase IIIPractical
Implementation
Phase IIIPractical
Implementation
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
ASPECTS OF EFFICIENT DESERT BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
ASPECTS OF EFFICIENT DESERT BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
Stru
ctur
al, M
ater
ials
and
Cons
truc
tion
Aspe
cts
Stru
ctur
al, M
ater
ials
and
Cons
truc
tion
Aspe
cts
Ener
gy G
ener
ation
and
Co
nser
vatio
n M
etho
dolo
gies
Ener
gy G
ener
ation
and
Co
nser
vatio
n M
etho
dolo
gies
Sust
aina
ble
Was
tew
ater
Man
agem
ent
Sust
aina
ble
Was
tew
ater
Man
agem
ent
Life
Cyc
le C
ost A
naly
sis
And
Opti
miz
ation
Life
Cyc
le C
ost A
naly
sis
And
Opti
miz
ation
Arch
itect
ural
Asp
ects
Arch
itect
ural
Asp
ects
Elements of the First Phase
Integrated Energy Systems in IDBT
Amr Serag-Eldin
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
Sustainability
• The IDBT project places special emphasis on Sustainability.
• Sustainability implies that future generations will be able to continue enjoying current living standards despite the reduction of fossil fuels and non-renewable energy resources.
• Like most future building technologies it aims at reducing energy consumption without compromising indoor quality.
• However, it goes one step further; it considers localized energy conversion from available RE resources.
• The desert environment offers both challenges and opportunities, which the proposed design addresses
Classification of Energy Loads
• Heat Loads:– Cooling loads: Air-conditioning– Cooling loads: Refrigeration for preservation & cooling of
food and beverage– Heating loads: Cooking– Heating loads: Occasional indoor heating (winter nights?)– Heating Loads: Domestic hot water (bathrooms, kitchen,
dish/clothes-washers)
• Electrical Loads:– Lighting– Appliances (computer, TV and multimedia, hair-dryers,
dish/clothes washer motor, etc.. ; refrigerator and ovens have been added to heat loads)
• Mechanical Loads:– Air circulation (ventilation & fans)– Water circulation and deep-well pumping.
Special DBT Features
• A/C load is expected to be the highest, particularly in summer daylight hrs.
• Minimum water consumption is allowed.• Hostile environment (sand storms)• Most abundant source of RE is Solar• Night time temperatures much lower than daytime
temperatures• Sun light hours don’t vary much year round• Wind energy is site dependent and should not be
depended upon entirely.• A/C loads and Solar energy are in phase in year cycle.
Energy System Design Guidelines
1. Reduce loads and conserve energy : particularly A/C loads.
2. Exploit locally available RE resources, particularly Solar (attempt zero conventional).
3. Extend use of available RE resources by introducing both thermal and electrical energy storage.
4. Design should not be too site specific; it should reflect the most common features of ME desserts. Thus biogas and desalination ruled out.
5. Design should provide a healthy, comfortable, and productive environment at minimum cost.
6. It should be reliable, durable, user friendly, as well as environmentally friendly.
Proposed Energy System
Considers Energy:
– Conservation: Double-cavity-walls and reflective cladding, roof insulation and overhangs, ground insulation; smart windows; LED lighting; displacement ventilation; H.E. between fresh and discharge air; use of evaporative cooling
– Conversion: Fresnel-mirror collectors/Absorption refrigeration, WECS, Photovoltaics, Wind-ventilator, Parabolic-dish/ Thermoacoustic-engine/refrigerator, flat-plate collectors
– Storage : Chiller water storage, Hot water storage, Battery
Fresnel collector principle
A Fresnel Mirrors System
A/C Absorption Chillers: Ammonia/water
A/C Absorption Chillers :H2/Ammonia
Displacement .vs. Dilution Ventilation
CO2(ppm) in cross-planes
T(oC) in cross-planes
WIND DRIVEN VENTURI-VENTILATOR
DEVELOPED EMPLOYING CFD
A Model was built
Tested and validated in W.T.
A Full Scale Prototype was Built
1. Develop prototype to operate under field conditions : introduction of a self-alignment mechanism.
2. Test prototype under varying wind speed and direction.
3. Long term testing on a roof-top under actual/near-desert operating-conditions.
4. Integrate Wind ventilator in the architectural design .
5. Integrate it in the energy system, e.g. with thermal storage and passive cooling and heating systems.
Prototype for Testing
Parabolic Dish/Thermo-acoustic Engine
Thermo-acoustic Engine/Refrigerator
Mechanical Sterling Engine
Free-piston Sterling Engine
Thermo-acoustic Engine
CFD Simulation : background
• Thermo-acoustic engines/refrigerators are currently designed using simple thermo-acoustic theory subject to Rott’s acoustic approximations; which are justified for weak pressure waves (small amplitudes) and semi one dimensional geometries.
• Our research is investigating applications with 10% or higher pressure amplitudes in 2/3 -dimensional geometries, and large dimensions with possibility of flow turbulence (requiring turbulence models).
• We don’t want our designs to be constrained by the capabilities of our prediction models. Thus we need to go to the most general computational tools, namely CFD commercial S/W.
• CFD solves sets of multi-dimension, partial-differential, non-linear eqns.; very different from Rott’s wave equations. Solution time and computational requirements are several orders of magnitude higher.
CFD Solutions : Challenges & Solutions
Challenges:• Very fine spatial grids covering large volumes, are
required to capture the phenomena occurring , and for several cycles.
• Formulation of boundary conditions requires special attention in order to reflect the physical situation as close as possible.
Solutions:• Use parallel processors and parallelized CFD S/W. A
single user version PHOENICS is temporarily set-up, until cluster of computers are connected.
• Use of higher order discretization methods in order to get high accuracy with a reasonable grid size. Ongoing attempts to introduce in code.
Alternative Design
• From a thermodynamic point of view, it is NOT efficient to convert EE into HE; however from an economic /practicality point this may not be so.
• Comparison will be made between an energy system based entirely on photovoltaic cells (converting some of EE into heat) and the one proposed here.
• Comparison includes life cycle costs, projected reliability, ease of maintenance and repair and local manufacturing opportunities
Summary & Conclusion for Energy component in DBT
• An investigation was conducted to examine typical energy needs of a desert building. Special desert features were identified and a conceptual integrated energy system design presented.
• The design in addition to being efficient in energy conservation, will also produce its own energy needs by converting readily available local solar energy, supplemented by any available wind energy.
• Future work will involve detailed calculations, equipment selection and specification as well as performance estimates. Moreover, the proposed design, which employs novel techniques and non-conventional technologies, will be compared against one which relies only on photovoltaic cells to meet its energy requirements.
Thermoacoustic Devices for Harvesting Energy from Solar
Energy & Waste Heat
Ehab Abdel-Rahman
Department of Physics, AUC
&
Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center, AUC
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
What is Thermoacoustic?
• Thermoacoustics (TA) is the study of the conversion of acoustic energy into heat energy and vice versa
• Acoustic energy can be harnessed in sealed systems and used to create powerful heat engines, heat pumps, and refrigerators.
Components of Heat Pump &
Prime Movers
Components of Heat Pump &
Prime Movers
• Thermoacoustics is the study of temperature fluctuations in an acoustic field
• A Thermoacoustic refrigerator harnesses the thermoacoustic effect to move heat
1
3
4
What a Gas Parcel Does
1) Expands and Cools2) Draws Heat from Plate3) Contracts and Heats4) Expels Heat to Plate
2
Plate
How does it work?
Application
How does it work?
History of Thermoacoustic
Byron Higgins, 1777
Sondhauss, 1850
Rijke, 1859
Lord Rayleigh
Rott, 1969
Wheatley and Swift, 1983
Symko and Abdel-Rahman 2002
Glass Blowers
The first successful theory of
thermoacoustic
If heat to be given to the air at the moment of greatest condensation or
taken from it at the moment of greatest
refraction, the vibration is encouraged (1887)
built the first TAR
Harvesting Energy!!
• TA Devices can use Solar Energy to Produce cooling
• TA Devices can use waster heat / solar energy to produce electricity
Solar Energy Driven TA Refrigerator
Concentrator
Prime MoverSunlight Heat
SO
UN
D
TA Refrigerator/ linear Alternator
Cooling/
Electrical
Pow
er
Solar Energy Driven TARefrigerator / Concentrator
Solar Energy Driven TARefrigerator / Concentrator
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02
(Tin-Tamb)/ (Ieff) ( oC m2/ W)
Eff
icie
nc
y
CRI
TTFUF
eff
ambinRLRo
)(
Solar Energy Driven TARefrigerator / Prime Mover
Time (sec)
-0.002 -0.001 0.000 0.001 0.002
Sound P
ressure
(V
)
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
Fluctuations Coherent Oscillations
Time (sec)
-2 -1 0 1 2
So
un
d P
re
ssu
re
(V
)
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
Solar Energy Driven TARefrigerator / Refrigerator
-20
-10
0
0 4 8 12
P1/Pm=0.2%P1/Pm=0.35%P1/Pm=0.6%P1/Pm=1%P1/Pm=3%
T(oC
)
Time (sec)
Conversion of Waste Heat / Solar Energy into Electricity
Conversion of Waste Heat / Solar Energy into Electricity
Dreams and Reality
• Several devices have been developed
• New designs are under study
Achievements
SIZES!!!
Summary
Harvesting Waste Heat and Solar Energy
Via Thermoacoustic Devicesis a promising technology
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Tunable Photonic Smart Windows
29 Layers
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Tunable Photonic Smart Windows
9 Layers
AcknowledgementAcknowledgement
• This project is Funded by King Abdullah for Science and Technology (KAUST)
• Prof. Amr Shaarawi, AUC, Egypt
• Mr. Mustafa Nouh
• Mr. Nadim Arafa
• Mr. Ahmad Adawy
• Mr. Michel Rezk
• Mr. Mohmad Beshr
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