First year architectural engineering doctoral students Yimin Chen (pictured left) and Liang Zhang (pictured right) are recipients of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Grid Integration Research and Development Innovators Program (BIRD IP) award. This program is for graduate students interested in “exploring building grid integration research and development technology concepts that can improve the operating efficiency of buildings and ultimately lead to more efficient buildings and cleaner generation of electricity.” The total award amount split between the two students is $52,154. Chen and Zhang are both advised by Associate Professor Jin Wen. Both research efforts will use and evaluate the DOE sponsored building energy software platform known as VOLTTRON.
VOLTTRON is an open-source software platform, developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, used to increase building energy efficiency and manage how building operations interact with the energy grid. This innovative control and sending software is capable of “managing many platforms, such as such as HVAC systems, electric vehicles, distributed energy or entire building loads, leading to improved operational efficiency and energy and cost savings.”
Chen’s research project is titled: “Demonstrating VOLTTRON Platform and Transactive Energy Solutions at Drexel University.” The objective of Chen’s efforts will be to “demonstrate the use and benefit of the VOLTTRON platform by engaging small and medium sized buildings at Drexel's campus and by implementing transactive energy control and automated faculty detection and diagnosis (AFDD) solutions using VOLTTRON platform on selected Drexel demo buildings.” Chen will use Stratton Hall as well as two other Drexel buildings (yet to be identified) to perform this research. These buildings will be chosen based on their usage, type, and building automation system (BAS). Once Chen connects the VOLTTRON platform to these select buildings, he will develop a web/user interface so users can operate commands and so that the public can view the data. The outcome of VOLTTRON’s functionality with these buildings will yield a final report and journal papers.
Zhang’s research project is titled: “VOLTTRON Compatible Short-term Trasactive Load Control Strategy.” The objective of Zhang’s research efforts will be to “utilize campus buildings and energy devices at Drexel University to investigate how building loads and storage can be used to mitigate short-term imbalances in distributed renewable energy generation.” Once Zhang identifies suitable Drexel buildings and energy devices for this research, he will then develop energy forecasting models and use his collected data to validate these forecasting models. Simulations studies will also be done and all of these efforts will produce a final report and journal papers. Zheng intends to identify “short-term transactive load control strategies” that are compatible with VOLTTRON and able to operate campus buildings and energy devices to increase or decrease their energy consumptions per grid needs.