Collaboration between senior design students and campus facilities staff in creating a viable cogeneration design for the campus wood-fired boiler

Abstract

An experimental project was created within our inter-disciplinary product realization capstone course to bring together students and staff from our campus steam plant to explore the feasibility of an economical design for a cogeneration turbine, generator, and power conditioning equipment. Project activities consisted of interviewing regional consultants and electric utility staff, touring other cogeneration facilities within the region, monitoring campus-wide steam pressure, analyzing seasonal data, modeling performance of different plant configurations with Engineering Equation Solver (EES), and conducting multiple design reviews with senior facilities staff. The team proposed a comprehensive design that could save $190,000/year with an implementation cost of $1.5M. The team's solution also included instrumentation that can support laboratory studies in multiple STEM courses, is visually attractive in its layout within our historic steam plant building, and is sustainable in its use of local wood waste. The team won two awards at our 2014 Design Expo. Project outcomes were assessed through a survey of students, faculty, and facilities staff. Success factors included student connection with a DOE sponsored Industrial Assessment Center, preparation in prior course work, capstone course activities that were aligned with project needs, and a welcoming, continuous improvement mindset displayed by steam plant personnel. Recommendations are also provided for enriching future energy conservation projects done within the context of capstone design courses.