RENEWABLE ENERGY: Faculty research in energy efficiency and solar systems supports two student thesis projects
Dr. Artak Hambarian’s research in collaboration with ITC in hybrid solar collector-PV-gas heating system (see CSE Newsletter Winter 2012 for details) has led to a thesis project completed by Razmik Martirosyan (IESM ’12). Martirosyan’s thesis develops a mathematical model to optimize hybrid solar water heating systems. This optimization model yields interesting results: seasons have small impact on the storage size, the system overall requires small auxiliary gas heater, a small energy storage that substantially decreases the installation cost, etc.
Dr. Hambarian has also worked on designing small-sized air-to-air heat exchangers (small-sized AAHE) for use in Armenian homes. Such a product, currently unavailable in the market, can be used in retrofitting or construction of rooms. The small-sized AAHE will bring in fresh air without significant loss of indoor temperature. With this, households can significantly save in energy costs related to heating and cooling of their homes. Lusine Hovsepyan (IESM ’12) conducted her thesis research on consumer expectations and demand for such a product. She also calculated the financial returns to households.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: College of Science & Engineering Developing Hybrid Space and Water Heater with ITC
The Engineering Research Center (ERC) has initiated a project entitled “Development of a Solar and Natural-Gas Driven Hybrid Water and Space Heating System.” The project is funded by Industrial Technologies Co. (ITC), an Armenia-based engineering and product-development company. ERC will develop an optimized design for the unit and provide product schematics and specifications. ITC will make use of AUA engineers’ R&D to prepare the fabrication drawings. The prototype is expected to be built jointly after completion of the design phase. Dr. Artak Hambarian, the project’s principal investigator (PI), explains, “These units are expected to reduce the dependency on natural-gas and tap into solar energy, a resource that is abundant in Armenia.” Three CSE students were competitively recruited to participate in this project.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: Renewable Energy Roadmap for Armenia
Drs. Ken Touryan and Artak Hambaryan of ERC participated in a comprehensive analysis of renewable energy options for the Republic of Armenia. They identified the renewable energy resources available to Armenia and the steps necessary to reach high levels of adoption for these solutions by 2020. The work was funded by R2E2 Fund under a World Bank grant and was contracted to the Danish Energy Management, a consulting firm based in Copenhagen. … Read more.