UCF Engineering Students to Showcase Renewable and Sustainable Energy Projects

By Courtney Gilmartin April 20, 2009

University of Central Florida engineering students have spent the past year finding new ways to make technology more environmentally friendly.

For their College of Engineering & Computer Science senior design projects, about 15 teams of undergraduates have worked on a variety of renewable and sustainable energy projects that will benefit UCF and several industry and government partners. The projects include improving vehicle mileage using reversible hydrogen fuel cells, designing an exercise bicycle that can generate electrical power and creating a tool to help Seminole County save money by better predicting power consumption and billing charges for its water treatment plants.

Students will showcase their hard work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, April 27, at the Progress Energy Senior Design Inaugural Symposium for Renewable & Sustainable Energy in the Pegasus Ballroom of UCF’s Student Union. The symposium is free and open to the public.

At the symposium, students will display their projects and give 10-minute presentations. They have 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 involve 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 will give 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.

The senior design projects and the symposium are 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."

Below are brief descriptions of many of the senior design projects that students will showcase at the symposium.

-- An automotive power conversion device that improves vehicle mileage using reversible hydrogen fuel cells.

-- Conversion kits that turn conventionally powered vehicles into hybrids with improved fuel economy.

-- An LED light with a wireless link to a home controller.

-- An exercise bicycle that can generate electrical power.

-- A low-power wind turbine to support local, small-scale grid power supplement.

-- A wind turbine maximizer to provide supplemental electricity to residences. This project also has been showcased in the 2009 International Future Energy & University Challenge conducted by IEEE, a leading professional association for the advancement of technology. 

-- An environmentally sensitive commercial building design for ASHRAE’s national competition. 

-- An automatic waste vegetable oil conversion system that can produce quality biodiesel fuel.

-- A power allocation management system that tracks power and water consumption in Seminole County and provides a better tool for energy management.

-- A process that would allow developing countries to convert coconuts into valuable biodiesel engine fuel.

-- Data collection on UCF shuttle ridership, including route timing and ridership, and daily reports to improve the shuttle service.

Marwan Simaan, interim dean of the College of Engineering & Computer Science, will join President Hitt in providing opening remarks at the symposium. For more information, go to www.cecs.ucf.edu.

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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.

Progress Energy: Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve approximately 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. The company has earned the Edison Electric Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in recognition of its operational excellence, and was the first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award for customer service. The company is pursuing a balanced strategy for a secure energy future, which includes aggressive energy-efficiency programs, investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. Progress Energy celebrated a century of service in 2008. Visit the company’s Web site at www.progress-energy.com.

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