I-Corps: Translation potential of thermal management systems for retrofit applications and electric vehicles batteries

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of a thermal management system capable of reducing the energy inefficiencies of low-to-middle-income U.S. multifamily households that were built before the 2009 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEC) Energy Codes were implemented. In order to accomplish this goal while remaining consistent with objectives to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2035, improvements will need to be made in building new housing and retrofitting existing housing. With the new technologies, this effort will prove beneficial to disadvantaged populations who experience disproportionate energy burdens associated, urban heat islands, and extreme hot and cold weather. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. This solution is based on the development of an enclosure or envelope thermal management system. The system is unique because decentralized energy management and can reduce thermal energy use intensity in both small and large enclosure systems while balancing out the hot spots, cold spots, and uneven temperature distributions. Such uneven temperature distributions contribute to poor energy efficiency. This effort represents a departure from existing approaches for enclosure thermal management, which often relies on passive insulation materials and a centralized refrigerant-based heating and cooling system. The team is developing a minimally invasive, large area transactive cooling, heating, and energy storage technology that combines Peltier cooling and heating with thermal energy storage and low-power temperature sensing to create a thermal management system capable of reducing heating and cooling loads by ~20-30%. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.