UCF Engineering Students Showcase Renewable Energy Projects (With Video)

By Chad Binette May 12, 2009

Photo: Jacque Brund

A team including Tien Le (left) and Marouane Antifit (center) designed components to add to a bicycle to enable it to produce energy that can be stored and used to power small appliances.

Full Photo

Story Images

• 
• 

Click thumbnails for full-size images.

Twenty teams of University of Central Florida engineering students presented innovative ways to conserve energy and save companies and taxpayers money during an inaugural symposium sponsored by Progress Energy.

The projects included a bicycle that generates enough electrical power to operate a light bulb or cell phone, an automated process for making biodiesel fuel, and a tool to help Seminole County save money by better predicting and reducing power consumption by its water treatment plants.

For their College of Engineering & Computer Science senior design projects, the teams of undergraduates worked on a variety of renewable and sustainable energy projects that will benefit UCF and several industry and government partners. They showcased their work April 27 at the Progress Energy Senior Design Inaugural Symposium for Renewable & Sustainable Energy, a public event held in the Student Union.

The students worked on their projects throughout the fall and spring semesters, learning how to develop innovative product proposals, conduct design analyses and prepare engineering reports.

Requiring that students’ senior design projects involve sustainability “shows that UCF is really on the cutting edge of implementing green technology right on its campus,” said Marc Compere, a faculty advisor for two groups of Mechanical Engineering students whose projects involved enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of UCF’s campus shuttle system. “We’re using the campus as a giant laboratory for students.”

UCF President John Hitt, who gave a welcome address at the symposium, is a member of a leadership circle of presidents committed to reducing greenhouse gases on campus, and the university has emphasized sustainable energy in the classroom, in construction projects and in its daily operations. Marwan Simaan, interim dean of the College of Engineering & Computer Science, also gave opening remarks at the symposium.

The senior design projects and the symposium were sponsored by Progress Energy, UCF’s Department of Sustainability and Energy Management, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Siemens Energy.

“By investing in tomorrow's industry leaders today, we hope to encourage the long-term development and adoption of efficient, reliable and sustainable renewable energy technologies,” said Progress Energy Florida President and CEO Jeff Lyash. “Renewable energy is an important part of the balanced solution necessary to meet our current and future energy needs, and we’re excited about the many innovative and environmentally friendly possibilities that have emerged through this program.”

Senior design projects that students showcased at the symposium included:

A bicycle that converts energy from pedaling and from a solar panel mounted on the back into electrical energy that is stored in a battery. The battery then can be used to power small appliances, such as a light bulb or a cell phone. The bike produced enough energy to provide 75 watts of power output for 30 minutes. The bicycle’s extra features, which also include a generator, weigh about 20 pounds and are removable. (Team members were Electrical Engineering students Marouane Antifit, Tien Le and Jose Velez)

An environmentally sensitive commercial building design for ASHRAE’s national competition. Students designed a sustainable HVAC system for a three-story retail and office building in Nashville. Their design included a “biofilter green wall” of vegetation that saves an estimated $1,000 annually in ventilation costs, a white reflective roof that reduces cooling costs and many other energy-conserving features. The design would reduce energy consumption by about 57 percent compared with a conventional design. (Team members were Mechanical Engineering students Hung Ho, Ian LaHiff, Elliott Monroe, Stephan Powell, Scott Hunt, Brandi Lewis, Joey Allen II, Jason Zingmond, Albert Mak and Dushyant Patel)

A system that helps Seminole County track the power usage of its water treatment plants. The challenge for the county has been that it is not billed separately for the power costs of the plants, so managers could not track power usage and identify how they can best improve efficiency. The students’ system provides the county with monthly plant and budget reports that provide data about energy use and will help managers identify where they can become more efficient, reducing costs to taxpayers. (Team members were Industrial Engineering students Robert Fischer, Tom Hopkins and Doel Salcedo)

An automated biodiesel fuel processer that converts waste vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel and is designed to be simple enough to use at home. The processor built by the students can produce about 3 gallons of fuel in 24 hours, but it could be adapted into larger-scale versions. The electrical system installed by the students powers the project’s heating elements, mixing motor, air pump and water pump. (Team members were Electrical Engineering students Ray Witkins, Chris Pearce, Megan Clementi and Robert Bradshaw)

All of the senior design project presentations can be viewed at www.cecs.ucf.edu/corporate/seniordesign09.

UCF Stands For Opportunity: The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the 5th largest in the nation with more than 50,000 students. UCF's first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region's economic development. UCF's culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information, visit http://news.ucf.edu.

< Back to the Newsroom

• About UCF
• Contact UCF
• Internet Privacy Policy
• Policies
• Regulations

© 1997-2008 University of Central Florida © 1997-2008 University of Central Florida

• 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Orlando, Florida, 32816
• 407.823.2000

UCF Stands For Opportunity