Executive Summary

Our Project:

Energy Efficiency is a project set forth by Mitsubishi Electric that a group of students from Southern Methodist University have undertaken. The purpose of Energy Efficiency is to create a more economical and efficient Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition (HVAC) system for a dormitory, Pontotoc Hall, at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

The current system implemented at Pontotoc Hall is highly inefficient, and partially non-functioning. The first step in fixing this problem is doing research. Research about the system currently in place at Pontotoc Hall, research about the specifications of the dormitory itself, research about the heat transfer of the material it is made of, and research on how all of this affects the energy consumption of a dormitory. From there, a 3D CAD model of the dormitory can be created to project the entire system into a virtual energy simulation called eQuest. This program allows for specific heating and cooling values of every component used in the building to be calculated and added to the total consumption of the current system. These values include everything from building material and thickness to the actual output of heating and cooling units as well as much smaller energy units such as lights. Inputting these values for a dormitory with 222 room, 6 stairwells, 3 recreational rooms, and 1 lobby is quite rigorous and time consuming. Once eQuest is able to calculate this total, a baseline of the current system is created. From there, the next steps involve researching Mitsubishi R2 and Y series HVAC systems, and placing them into a new eQuest model that will create the most economical, and energy efficient system possible. The team has been weighing the trade-offs between these two systems. The R2 series is a "Heat Recovery Unit" while the Y series is solely a "Heat Pump." The latter is more inefficient but less costly. In addition to the two series, each one has numerous components to select from. Deciding what components to implement requires analyzing the total loads of the building as well as the meeting the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code requirements. These are just a two examples of the types of considerations the team is working with.

Upon selection of a proposed new system, the team will run a Life Cycle Cost Analysis. This software allows for the total cost for the system to be calculated from a number of factors, including components, schedules, occupancy, and geometry. Calculation of the total cost of the system over its lifetime allows for the team to compare various options and configurations to maximize efficiency and minimize costs.

The future of the project will look at how the new system would actually be placed into the dormitory. This includes deciding the most efficient places to put the HVAC devices and giving the final product to Mitsubishi for consideration in their project at ECU. By utilizing the Diamond System Builder software created by Mitsubishi, the team was able to layout our proposed system and link everything together using centralized systems and centralized controllers. Construction documents will be created for the new design. These documents are a series of extensive blueprints and instructions as to how the system will be laid out within the building as well as a schedule of operation for the various units. The construction documents will also include "typicals," or instructions, as to how each individual component used in the system is built and operated. The construction documents have been printed and presented to Mitsubishi for final consideration and use on the project at ECU.

Below is one example of our final construction documents:

The construction document set consists of 20 AutoCAD drawings.