Undergraduate HVAC&R students are gaining hands-on experience with the 2010-2011 ASHRAE undergraduate senior project.

From smart home controls to solar powered gas refrigeration, undergraduate HVAC&R students in their senior year are gaining hands-on experience with the 2010-2011 ASHRAE undergraduate senior project grant.

The grants, totaling approx. $65,000, are awarded by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning (ASHRAE) to colleges and universities worldwide to promote the study and teaching of HVAC&R and encourage students to pursue related careers. The grants are used to design and construct projects.

This year, 14 schools were awarded grants, with Purdue University-West Lafayette in Indiana ranking the highest among the applicants for the school’s proposal to develop smart home controls. As the top grant award winner, two students from the university are invited to present their project as part of the student program at the 2011 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

“Purdue University is designing and building a net zero energy home that will showcase a variety of new technologies for residential construction,” said Bill Hutzel, faculty advisor of the project. The grant will provide the infrastructure for monitoring and controlling the mechanical, electrical, lighting and other systems in the smart house by developing the controls schematic; developing the sequence of operation; developing the control code; installing the controls and sensors; and commissioning the building systems.

The smart house will become a multidisciplinary living laboratory for university students interested in low- energy residential construction. The school also anticipates displaying the home to media, contractors and the public.

Other ASHRAE grant recipients are:

Purdue University–Calumet’s Energy Efficient HVAC&R Using Evaporative Cooling

California Maritime Academy’s Solar Absorption Refrigeration Unit

Texas A&M University’s Thermal Energy Storage Using Phase Change Materials and Carbon Nanotubes

Florida International University’s for Design and Testing of an Add on Rain Water External Radiant Wall Siding as both Thermal Mass and Heat Dissipater

Penn State’s Controlled Exposure Experimentation Reactors and Ambient Response Facility for Student Experiments/Demonstrations

Widener University’s Laboratory Ice Storage Cooling System for Air Conditioning Application

Montana State University’s Modulating Scroll Compressor Energy Efficiency Experiment

University of North Carolina - Charlotte’s (group two) Vapor Absorption Refrigeration Trainer

University of Wyoming’s Comprehensive Study to Evaluate HVAC Systems and Envelope Performances

Hofstra University’s Solar Powered Gas Refrigeration Experiment

American University of Beirut’s Study of Performance of a Solar Assisted Liquid Desiccant System to Supply

Building Fresh Water and Cooling Needs by Modeling and Experimentation

University of North Texas’s Harvesting Built Environments for Global and Accessible Modular Energy Audit Training

Oral Roberts University’s Swirling Pipe Flow Laboratory

For more information on the grant program, visit www.ashrae.org/students