Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: The DELTA Smart House: Cross-Disciplinary Projects within the Design Framework of Sustainable Construction
EPA Grant Number: SU832501Title: The DELTA Smart House: Cross-Disciplinary Projects within the Design Framework of Sustainable Construction
Investigators: Schaad, David , Alvarez, Byron , Bell, Cameron , Nichols, Eli , Henkelman, Erik , Coleman, Frank , Barendse, Gareth , Marschner, James , Schwane, Jeffrey , Nadeau, Joe , Board, John , Duray, John , Dickens, Kellan , Hill, Kristen , Brooke, Martin , Liebert, Rob , Kielb, Robert , Sokol, Seth , Felkins, Stephen , Rose, Thomas
Institution: Duke University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: September 30, 2005 through May 30, 2006
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2005) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
In 2003, the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University conceptualized the idea of developing a "Smart House" that integrated learning into a residential living environment. In the summer of 2007, the Duke Engineering Living Technology Advancement (DELTA) Smart House Project will become a reality. With actual construction a little under a year away, this facility will serve as an actual learning laboratory for students from all four engineering departments at Duke. Parallel to the realization of an actual building, this past year, three curricular classes at Duke worked together to address the Smart House as both a sustainable integrated project as well as evaluate individual performance aspects of components of that system.
In these courses, the goal is to educate students in an interdisciplinary, applied, learning environment that stresses vital project management and product design engineering skills. To accomplish this, the courses focus on developing projects that can be integrated into the living environment of the house by focusing on researching and developing innovative approaches to living technology in: energy and efficiency, environment and health, and entertainment and communications. The planned purpose of the DELTA Smart House as a prototypical living unit which will contribute to people, prosperity and the planet as a learning, teaching, and experimental environment focused on improving building technologies, implementing sustainable designs and improving the quality of life for both the residents of the home as well as those neighboring and interacting with the structure. The goal of the projects, and the corresponding curricular endeavors, is to develop technologically appropriate and sustainable solutions to complex design problems, with the end goal being to foster entrepreneurial innovations which become part of a technology transfer from the lessons learned at the house to the wider building and design communities. One of the fundamental aspects of the house and these courses is to foster an entrepreneurial innovation in the students at Duke to promote community interaction and public awareness of advances in sustainable future home technology. The end products of the courses are designs which improve the livability of the Smart House while enhancing its sustainability, which in turn are disseminated outward in both educational and information initiatives. Additionally, some of the learned lessons will be applicable to the developing world with respect to the implementation of sustainable, low maintenance designs and construction techniques which enhance the ability to develop residential and commercial structures which are affordable and useful without a high need for technological and electrical inputs.
A primary goal of the DELTA Smart House and related courses is to create an interdisciplinary process of sustainable engineering design. It facilitates an environment where disciplines of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, bioengineering, architecture, ecology, public health, religion and ethics overlap. Within this context, the interdisciplinary students will explore projects which enhance the sustainability of the residence while improving the quality of life for those students fortunate enough to live in Duke's learning and living laboratory, and those who will directly and indirectly benefit from concepts, designs and products investigated and formulated in this space.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Working in concert with faculty members, student groups from three classes (ME160 – Mechanical Systems Design, CE162 – Architectural Engineering II, and ME265 – Advanced Technology Living Design) are working together to develop an integrated system of advanced technologies for use in the Smart House. Over the past couple of years, cross-disciplinary engineering faculty representing all four of the engineering departments at the Pratt School of Engineering of Duke University have taught courses to mentor and supervise applied projects with the end goal of having student teams function as design and fabrication squads conceptualizing and constructing prototypes of actual sustainable features which will be incorporated into the residential living quarters for undergraduate students. Working under the tutelage of the assembled faculty, Duke engineers have explored how to conceptualize, design and fabricate sustainable building systems including: sustainable materials of construction, use of passive lighting and green building concepts; grey-water reuse systems; alternative energy generation and re-capture, including recovery of energy from showers, dishwashers and other high temperature water use; self-regulating sensors to control air handlers and HVAC systems; energy efficient lighting and entertainment/video systems; composting waste disposal and sustainable landscaping. As part of this integrated living unit, students have conceptualized, designed, fabricated and tested components of the system. This past semester, students in the three academic classes have teamed together to develop an integrated system of connected components for the sustainable implementation into the final house design. To accomplish this, the students have conceptualized, designed, fabricated and tested an integrated system comprised of a solar tracking array, water cooled photovoltaic panels, heat exchanger to recover energy from hot water sources in the house (including the water heated by the panels), and a grey water reuse system which takes “lightly used” water from both hot and cold water sources (sinks, showers and the dishwasher) and uses it to flush toilets in the house. The realized energy improvements demonstrated during the prototype testing phase hold promise for full scale implementation of the system in the functioning Smart House.
Conclusions:
The integrated product of the Smart House is a viable and sustainable approach which examines multiple aspects of the building system. While these integrated prototypes represent the first set of proposed experiments and evaluations for the house, they show definite promise for the future. Additionally, as part of the experimental process, the students have identified enhancements that would improve each of the systems. For instance, in order to improve the efficiency and durability of the tracker, there are a few modifications that can be implemented. Adding mirrored collectors will focus more light onto the panels, which will allow them to produce more power. This will also heat up the panels faster, but the implemented cooling system will keep the panels at the efficient operating temperature. Undoubtedly, this project functions because of the very nature of the integration and the proposed engineering designs used for solar tracking, panel cooling, heat recovery and gray water reuse. The designs form together into a single optimized system that takes advantage of clean energy recovery and generation in all aspects. The beauty of the system is that none of the specific designs would be at all efficient without the others. For the photovoltaic panel cannot be cooled with warm recycled water and the panel will not heat up and generate energy nearly as effectively without being pointed at the sun by the solar tracker. With sustainability being the main goal of the system, the entire integrated project operates in a net energy gain and the recovered heat energy minimizes other power requirements and is an exemplary design with the Earth in mind.
By structuring these interdisciplinary undergraduate engineering teams to tackle challenging problems, the cross-cutting teams have devised actual prototype designs, which will advance science and technology for sustainability. As part of the design process, students addressed the feasibility of their design and analyzed the scientific/technical soundness of their design approach. With the end goal being incorporation of the idea into the constructed residence, all of these ideas have been tested against the feasibility of the design and their expected contribution to the overall quality of life in the house.
Benefits that have been realized as part of this class are:
- Augment Curriculum with Practical Design Experience: One of the biggest challenges in universities is deciding how to involve students in practical, hands-on engineering relatively early in the curriculum. Design and application of design is the fundamental skill of engineering, yet exposure to design is often limited until senior year coursework. These classes have engaged students in the learning experience, with the concept of sustainability as a guiding principle in the design process.
- Student Project Management Experience: Students in the course have been responsible for creating their own project proposals and managing project teams. They have gained valuable experience in project management, budgeting, and communications in addition to the technical skills of engineering research and design.
- Cross-Disciplinary: These cross-disciplinary courses involve students from each of Pratt’s departments: Civil and Environmental, Electrical and Computer, Mechanical, and Biomedical Engineering as well as Trinity students from Computer Science, Economics, Public Policy, and the Nicholas School of the Environment. Project teams are specifically designed to bridge the gap across the disciplines and give students exposure and experience in fields outside their own.
With all these disciplines involved, student designers have gained a unique support network typically unavailable to most entrepreneurs that will improve the chances of success.
By integrating actual projects into the design experience, the students in this interdisciplinary undergraduate course have reaped the educational benefits and have the additive effect of multiple group collaborations toward a common goal. This experience not only mimics experiences they will be faced with as practicing engineers, but it will permanently incre
Supplemental Keywords:
sun, solar, tracker, PV, photovoltaic, cooling, heat, recovery, energy, efficiency, home, living, house, sustainability, environment, smart, duke, RFA, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Sustainable Industry/Business, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Sustainable Environment, Energy, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Environmental Engineering, Engineering, energy conservation, cleaner production, green roof, alternative building technology, ecological design, environmental conscious construction, green building design, alternative materials, pollution prevention design, energy efficiency, architecture, rainfall harvesting, College dormitoriesThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.