ASHRAE Journal - October 2011 - 70

of this project will be to develop thermal conductivity and surface emittance data for three representative thermal insulating coating products. Testing of three representative products will give some measure of the variability between products. Relative Performance of Gas Phase 1557-RP Lab Comparison ofLow Challenge Concentrations Filtration Media at High and
September 2011 – September 2013; Syracuse University; Principal Investigator, Jianshun Zhang; TC 2.3, Gaseous Air Contaminants and Gas Contaminant Removal Equipment

1584-RP

Assessment of Alternative Approaches to Predicting the Burning Velocity of a Refrigerant

September 2011 – August 2012; Northwestern University; Principal Investigator, Mohammed Metghalchi; TC 3.1, Refrigerants and Secondary Coolant; AHRTI $15,000 co-funder

Gas phase air ﬁltration equipment (GPAFE) is traditionally and principally applied 1) in museums, libraries, archives, and other buildings where ambient pollution can present problems for occupants or holdings; 2) in buildings or industrial ofﬁce areas having speciﬁc contamination problems (airports, odiferous neighbors, plant ﬂoor ofﬁces, etc.); and, 3) for protection of high-value equipment against hostile environments (computer rooms, telephone switch gear, etc.). The use of GPAFE impacts ventilation system design substantially because of the space and pressure drop requirements. HVAC design professionals (ASHRAE members) need to know how well the equipment they specify will perform in removing contaminants and they need to be able to contrast different design options based on comparable and objective data. The objective on this project is To provide lab data on efﬁcacy and life using the test method described in ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 145.1-2008 to make comparisons for: a) Accelerated (high challenge concentration) and Application (very low challenge concentration) conditions. b) Multiple adsorbent media including, but not limited to, activated carbon and impregnated activated carbon. c) Physical Adsorption and Chemical Adsorption removal mechanisms. Provide independently generated test results to the ASHRAE peer-reviewed literature and ASHRAE Handbook. Contribute to the development of test methods to estimate and compare the long-term performance of GPAFE.

The objective of this project is to identify technically acceptable parameters that may be used to accurately predict or estimate the burning velocity of refrigerants. These techniques could be used as predictive tools to estimate burning velocity. The identiﬁcation of a reliable, less expensive approach to measure burning velocity will reduce the cost of safety classiﬁcation and increase the participation in the development of new refrigerant candidates that may be only mildly ﬂammable. A potential commercial outcome may be the faster development of mildly ﬂammable, low GWP refrigerants.

1589-RP

Effects of Fin Design on Frost and Defrost Thermal Performances of Micro-Channel Heat Exchangers

September 2009 – December 2011; Oklahoma State University; Principal Investigator, Lorenzo Cremaschi; TC 8.4, Air-to-Refrigerant Heat Transfer Equipment

1564-RP Measurement of Oil Retention in the Microchannel Heat Exchangers
September 2011 – September 2013; Oklahoma State University; Principal Investigator, Lorenzo Cremaschi; TC 8.4, Air-to-Refrigerant Heat Transfer

This work will provide essential design data for state-of-art microchannel heat exchangers by showing how much oil is held up, causing the heat transfer performance degradation and additional pressure drops at various operating conditions. This is an excellent opportunity for ASHRAE to provide important design information that has not been clearly answered before and falls in the gap between manufacturers, designers, and installers. This work provides key information that may challenge compressor manufacturers and installers to more carefully measure how much oil to add to systems. This work may also show that over-charging a system with oil is just as bad — or worse — than over-charging a system with refrigerant. While the practice of overcharging systems may seem like a reasonable practice in the ﬁeld from a durability standpoint, it may actually be a tremendous waste of oil, refrigerant, money and energy. Parameters for Risk Assessment of 2L Flammable 1580-RP Study of Input Residential Air Conditioning and Small Commercial Refrigerants in Refrigeration Applications
June 2011 – May 2012; Navigant Consulting, Inc.; Principal Investigator, William J. Goetzler; TC 3.1, Refrigerants and Secondary Coolants; AHRTI $62,500 co-funder

Microchannel-type heat exchangers have been recently adopted by the heat pump industry because of their compactness and efﬁciency for heating and cooling in residential and commercial applications. If these heat exchangers are used in outdoor coils, they are subjected to signiﬁcant frost growth and frequent defrost cycles, which ultimately limit their heating performance during winter. This project aims to study the effect of fin design modifications on frost and defrost thermal performance of microchannel and fins heat exchangers. Transient cases of initial frost accumulation, defrost, and subsequent re-frost cycles are going to be experimentally investigated. The proposed experimental work broadens the fin geometries studied in the cited references. It also focuses mainly on the onset of heterogeneous frost nucleation and the effects of the fin design modifications on the frost growth rate. The project also aims to isolate and quantify the impact on frost accumulation due to fin geometry, f low depth, finbase surface temperature, and fin contact resistance. The modeling efforts combined altogether with the experimental tests will be able to determine potential improvements in frosting and defrost performance from incremental modifications of the fin and microchannel tubes design.

1590-RP

Implementation of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Principles Into Higher Education as an Integrated Decision Making Tool

September 2009 – July 2012; APPA; Principal Investigator, Douglas Christensen; TC 7.8, Owning and Operating Costs

The research effort will focus on the “Implementation of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Principles into Higher Education as an Integrated Decision Making Tool”. This study will focus on the principles of TCO and will be in alignment with both interoperability and sustainability practices. APPA will invite up to 25 institutions to participate in this study. The data collected from these institutions will provide the necessary data for analysis and establishment of a “standard of practice” for the industry and could result in a Standard for applying TCO and/or a guideline for utilizing TCO in Facilities Management. The study will also help to signiﬁcantly expand the ASHRAE Service Life and Operating Cost Database with additional buildings and equipment.

Regulations for the phase-out of R134a in the automotive industry from 2011-2017 in the EU are already in place and anticipated to spread to other regions and applications (e.g., Waxman-Markey legislation – American Clean Energy and Security Act in U.S. Congress). Understanding the safety implications of using mildly ﬂammable 2L low GWP refrigerants will allow faster and more widespread adoption and result in greater environmental beneﬁt. The information from this study will also provide valuable input for improving or modifying codes and standards to allow safe use of mildly ﬂammable refrigerants. The data can be used in future risk assessments to be conducted by the stationary HVAC&R industry or by individual OEMs.

1596-RP

Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality in Retail Stores

September 2010 – December 2012; University of Texas – Austin; Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Siegel; TC 4.3, Ventilation Requirements and Infiltration

1583-RP Assessment of Burning Velocity Test Methods

September 2010 – March 2012; National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science Technology (AIST); Principal Investigator, Kenji Takizawa; TC 3.1, Refrigerants and Secondary Coolants; AHRTI $30,000 co-funder

Regulations for the phase-out of R-134a in the automotive industry from 2011-2017 in the EU are already in place and anticipated to spread to other regions and applications (e.g. Waxman-Markey bill in the US Congress). By obtaining accurate values for burning velocity of mildly ﬂammable low GWP refrigerants, the likelihood of adoption of these refrigerants will signiﬁcantly increase and the long term environmental impact on climate change will be very signiﬁcant. Substantial quantities of these new refrigerants could be in use in the 2012-2020 timeframe. Also, rules for refrigerant toxicity and safety classiﬁcation under ISO 817 will probably be adopted by ASHRAE in the future in order to harmonize both systems and prevent confusion in the marketplace. Therefore, this is an important program for ASHRAE as well as ISO. The objective of this project is to critically evaluate two different burning velocity test methods (vertical tube and spherical/cylindrical) to determine their precision and accuracy and potential for test method simpliﬁcation and cost reduction without sacriﬁcing quality. This should allow more widespread use of burning velocity measurement to support the new refrigerant ﬂammability classiﬁcation standard ISO 817 and ASHRAE Standard 34. The plan is to have one ASHRAE project, but potentially two separate budgets and contracts if two contractors with expertise with one speciﬁc method are chosen.

Retail buildings in the United States account for approximately 20 percent of commercial sector energy consumption and represent the fastest growing commercial subsector (DOE, Energy Efﬁciency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Program, 2009). The potential for impact from this project on both indoor air quality and energy efﬁciency is signiﬁcant. The primary objective of the proposed investigation is to develop a robust database of indoor air quality, ventilation, occupant surveys, and building measurements for the U.S. retail building stock. This database will be used to determine the relationship between ventilation rate and indoor air quality and occupant satisfaction with the goal of recommending appropriate minimum ventilation rates for different categories and locations of retail establishments. The primary user of these results within ASHRAE will be ASHRAE SSPC 62.1 and TC 4.3. Building designers will also be provided with data that will allow improved application of the Standard 62.1 IAQ Procedure. Funding for the project and ASHRAE administrative costs is provided through a $1.5 million dollar grant from the NIST Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants program.

1597-RP

Stochastic Control Optimization of Mixed-Mode Buildings

April 2010 – March 2013; University of Colorado – Boulder; Principal Investigator, Gregor Henze; TC 1.4, Control Theory and Application

The primary purpose of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems is to provide acceptable indoor air quality and thermal comfort. Mixed-mode ventilation systems provide good indoor air quality and thermal climate using natural ventilation whenever the outdoor weather conditions are favorable, but revert to mechanical systems for HVAC whenever external conditions are too harsh. A mixed-mode building should switch between these two modes of operation according to seasonal and diurnal varia-

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ASHRAE Journal

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October 2011
ASHRAE Journal - October 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - October 2011
