Building Energy and HVAC&R Research Group

DOE IEDO Project

About

DOE IEDO project: Efficient Drying Processes of High-Quality Wood through Intelligent Desiccant Assisted Heat Pump System Innovations

The goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate an intelligent desiccant-assisted heat pump drying system for lumber drying (i.e., kiln drying) to improve the energy efficiency of the drying process and reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. We envision achieving improved energy efficiency, guaranteed product quality, and reduced fossil fuel use. The system will first be tested in a HIL environment, and then in a Kiln chamber with our industry partners. While the DAHP drying system will only be tested for wood here, the generic nature of the drying operation makes it applicable to dry others (e.g., food, textile) at temperatures < 120-160°F. Importantly, this project will offer the first example to apply the innovations in desiccant-assisted heat pump with Kirigami-based heat exchanger to an industrial drying process.

 

Overall Objectives

We will offer an innovative system solution that integrates dehumidification, low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, data assimilation, and model-free predictive control to operate the drying process intelligently and safely through three modules:
  • a kirigami-based heat exchanger (HX) coated with regenerative desiccant channels, pattern low-cost and scalable, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) desiccants, combining a solid desiccant (silica aerogel), and a liquid desiccant (e.g., LiCl), into channels on kirigami HX to efficiently absorb and remove water.
  • a desiccant-assisted heat pump (DAHP) system, offers significantly enhanced capability and controllability to remove moisture from the air with high energy efficiency compared with state-of-the-art heat pump-based drying systems.
  • a product-centric intelligent deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based controller, an intelligent control scheme that will consider the real-time status of the inside and outside conditions and DAHP status through IoT-based sensors.

 

Principal Investigators

Zheng O’Neill, Texas A&M University

Dr. Zheng O’Neill is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TAMU. She has 25 years of experience in HVAC technology covering heat pump technologies, and smart sensors and intelligent controls.  Dr. O’Neill was a PI at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) where she led a multi-million-dollar industry and university consortium in development and implementation of scalable modeling and control solutions for energy-efficient buildings. She has led or been involved in research awards totaling more than $30 M from ASHRAE, DOE, DOD, ARPA-E, NSF, and industry, and has published more than 160 journal articles and conference papers.

 

Shu Yang, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Shu Yang is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn. She has secondary appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Penn. She has extensive experience in synthesis, assembly and manufacturing of coatings, including assembly of silica nanoparticles of different surface treatment and nano-/microstructured surfaces, fundamental and practical knowledge in surface science to control water condensation, absorption and removal.

 

Qing (Cindy) Chang, University of Virginia

Dr. Qing (Cindy) Chang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia. Her research has focused on improving the sustainability and efficiency of smart manufacturing systems. She specializes in dynamic manufacturing system modeling and analysis based on sensor data, adaptive control and machine learning based control to improve the performance of manufacturing processes and systems, and human-robot collaborations in manufacturing.

 

Bryan Rasmussen, Texas A&M University

Dr. Bryan Rasmussen is a Professor and Associate Department Head in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TAMU. He is also the Director of the Texas A&M Industrial Assessment Center (IAC). The center has twice been recognized as the top center nationally, and he has received the “Excellence in Applied Energy Engineering Research” award in 2012, 2014, and 2020. Additionally, Prof. Rasmussen is a recognized expert in dynamic modeling, control design, and fault detection for residential, commercial, and industrial cooling and heat pump systems.

 

Zhiyao Yang, Texas A&M University

Dr. Zhiyao Yang is Research Engineer III in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TAMU. He has 10 years of experience in advanced technologies and systems for building energy and environment.  His research has focused on integrated systems using technologies such as heat pump, sorption and energy storage. He has led multiple heat pump centered projects using both experiment and simulation for improved efficiency in dealing with latent load and under cold climates.

 

Xinfeng Xie, Michigan Technological University

Dr. Xinfeng Xie is an Associate Professor of Forest Biomaterials at MTU. He is also the Director of the Wood Protection/Sustainable Bioproducts Group, an accredited ISO 17025 testing lab at MTU. His research focuses on wood for sustainable products. His current research focuses on cross-laminated timber, valorization of low-value hardwood lumber, protection and preservation of wood-based building materials, and upcycling industrial wastes and by-products.

 

Jalaal Hayes, Lincoln University

Dr. Jalaal Hayes is an Assistant Professor, an African American faculty in the Department of Chemistry at LU. His research focuses on renewable energy storage and production via biomass and biohydrogen production. He has extensive experience supervising underrepresented students in STEM.

 

 

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