Smart Monitoring and Diagnostic System (SMDS) (Methodology for Automated Detection of Degradation and Faults in Packaged Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps Using Only Two Sensors)
The invention was created in the process of developing a system known as the Smart Monitoring and Diagnostic System (SMDS) for packaged air conditioners and heat pumps used on commercial buildings (known as RTUs). The SMDS provides automated remote monitoring and detection of performance degradation and faults in these RTUs and could increase the awareness by building owners and maintenance providers of the condition of the equipment, the cost of operating it in degraded condition, and the quality of maintenance and repair service when it is performed. The SMDS provides these capabilities and would enable conditioned-based maintenance rather than the reactive and schedule-based preventive maintenance commonly used today, when maintenance of RTUs is done at all. Improved maintenance would help ensure persistent peak operating efficiencies, reducing energy consumption by an estimated 10% to 30%. The SMDS detects RTU performance degradation and select operational faults and provides estimates of the accrued energy and cost impacts weekly after detection of a performance issue. It uses only two sensors per each RTU, outdoor-air temperature and total power demand, both collected at one-minute intervals. Software code based on the methodology and algorithms developed by PNNL in a collaborative develop effort with NorthWrite Inc. and Universal Devices implement the detection processes and estimation of energy and cost impacts. The methodology, algorithms and original prototype software were developed exclusively by PNNL. Two versions of the SMDS, the Hardware SMDS and the Cloud SMDS, have been prototyped and tested on buildings in the field and/or on data from buildings. Both versions use the same methodologies for detection of performance degradation and for detection of specific faults. The inventive features are the methodologies developed for 1) detecting performance degradation in cooling by packaged air conditioners and heat pumps, 2) detecting operational faults in these units, and 3) inferring building operating schedules, all using only sensed measurements of the local (e.g., on the rooftop of the buildings where the RTUs are installed) outdoor-air temperature and the total power consumption of the RTU.
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Jake Bohlke
Systems and Methods for Monitoring Organisms Within an Aquatic Environment
Systems and methods for monitoring organisms within an aquatic environment are described. According to one aspect, an injectable acoustic transmission device includes a body configured to be injected inside of an organism, a transducer within the body and configured to convert a plurality of electrical signals into a plurality of data transmissions which are transmitted externally of the body and the organism, a plurality of circuit components within the body and configured to use electrical energy from a power source to generate the electrical signals which are provided to the transducer, and wherein the transducer defines an internal volume and at least one of the circuit components is provided within the internal volume of the transducer.
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING ORGANISMS WITHIN AN AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT
Systems and methods for monitoring organisms within an aquatic environment are described. According to one aspect, an injectable acoustic transmission device includes a body configured to be injected inside of an organism, a transducer within the body and configured to convert a plurality of electrical signals into a plurality of data transmissions which are transmitted externally of the body and the organism, a plurality of circuit components within the body and configured to use electrical energy from a power source to generate the electrical signals which are provided to the transducer, and wherein the transducer defines an internal volume and at least one of the circuit components is provided within the internal volume of the transducer.
GRID STABILIZATION USING ADJUSTED VOLTAGE REGULATOR RESPONSE TO GRID CHARACTERISTICS
This IDR proposes the use of volt-var optimization (VVO) to improve the dynamic performance of microgrids. The proposed idea uses existing hardware assets, and does not require expensive new equipment. Operationally the concept is similar to the power system stabalizers seen on large transmission generators, except that it is relying on the response of the end use load for the primary control affect. While VVO has been used to reduce energy consumption for 30+ years, the proposed work is operating on the time-sclae of milliseconds. This is a new way to use the VVO effect, and to my knowledge has not been done before.
Thermal Energy Storage Apparatus, Controllers and Thermal Energy Storage Control Methods
Thermal energy storage apparatus, controllers and thermal energy storage control methods are described. According to one aspect, a thermal energy storage apparatus controller includes processing circuitry configured to access first information which is indicative of surpluses and deficiencies of electrical energy upon an electrical power system at a plurality of moments in time, access second information which is indicative of temperature of a thermal energy storage medium at a plurality of moments in time, and use the first and second information to control an amount of electrical energy which is utilized by a heating element to heat the thermal energy storage medium at a plurality of moments in time.
Metal Fluoride Electrode Protection Layer and Method of Making Same
The present invention discloses a method to modify the titanium oxide based anode materials by coating a thin layer of AlF3 on the particle surface and the excellent battery performance for the thus obtained surface-modified titanium oxide based materials. This method is simple and cost effective. The key aspect of the present invention is to keep the AlF3 coating at low content particularly between 0.1% and 10% and more particularly between 1% and 5%. The thin AlF3-coating layer significantly improves the power performance, capacity retention at elevated temperatures and long term cycle life of the lithium-ion batteries using these surface-modified anode materials.
Thermoelectric Devices and Applications for the Same
This invention describes a process for sputter deposition of thin films of alloys of Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and Bi2Se3 for thermoelectric energy conversion. The approach allows deposition of these films on glass and flexible substrates such as Kapton. The process was used to deposit n-type and p-type films that exhibit properties nearly as good as measured for bulk materials. A single thermocouple was formed from n-type and p-type films that produced 3 millivolts under a temperature difference of 10 degrees centigrade. This result demonstrates that miniature high-voltage, microwatt power sources can be constructed from thin film arrays deposited as described by the disclosed process.