Self optimising ventilation systems incorporating new, low cost high efficiency electronically controlled motors

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)

Basic and strategic applied research
Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor C Pollock
Department of Engineering
University of Leicester

3

Carbon Trust

01 May 2003

30 September 2004

17 months

£144,344

East Midlands

Professor C Pollock, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester

This project is investigating the application of innovative, high efficiency, electric motor technology to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications. The objective is to design and construct engineering demonstrators to confirm the potential for significant energy savings through the use of intelligent electronically controlled fans and pumps in HVAC equipment. The motors will be designed for easy manufacture at very low cost so that they can compete commercially with fixed-speed installations that currently use inefficient mechanical control of air or water flow.

The project started by identifying two target applications to demonstrate both significant energy savings and the potential for intelligent control. Electronically controlled, flux switching motors with permanent magnet stators are being designed and constructed for these applications. Two versions of the new motors are being designed; one with a conventional rotor rotating within the stator and a second machine with the rotor mounted external to the stator. External rotor machines are commonwithin the ventilation industry. In the research carried out to date the external rotor machine is predicted to have a higher efficiency than an equivalent size internal rotor machine. The work on the motor design has concentrated on the design of the motors for efficiency, low cost and low acoustic noise. This has involved a combination of magnetic and mechanical finite element analysis whilst also designing novel assembly methods to enable easier manufacture. Innovative electronic control schemes are being investigated on the first prototypes including self-optimising flow and pressure characteristics, over-speed boost, flow reversal and communicating with "bluetooth enabled" sensors. If the project is successful, it is anticipated that electronic manufacturing companies will then investigate ways to integrate the additional functionality into the electronic controller at minimal cost. The first prototypes should demonstrate energy savings of 50% over existing products, and through improved assembly methods be quieter acoustically than the one sample motor constructed previously. The prototypes can then be used to investigate the commercial potential of employing this innovative motor technology across the entire HVAC industry

01/01/07