Gemstone Class of 2011
Current Research / Team Updates
April 2011
On April 26, the team successfully completed their final draft of their thesis.
Spring 2011
Team Cogen is in the midst of an exciting final semester. In addition to working hard to complete our thesis and preparing for the Thesis Conference on April 2nd, the team has been selected to present at two industry events. In December 2010, Team Cogen presented a poster at the World Energy Engineering Congress. A paper detailing the findings of the team's research was published in the proceedings of the conference.
On February 23, three team members traveled to the International District Energy Association's Annual Campus Energy Conference IDEA to deliver a presentation on our research findings. The presentation was well-received and prompted several interesting discussions with several other conference attendees.
On February 28, the team successfully completed their draft of their thesis.
Fall 2010
The team is working hard to complete a draft thesis while finishing up data collection. The engineering team is completing its work on three simulations to complete its data collection. The first simulation uses GSP to demonstrate novel system performance, the second uses ChemCAD to investigate the impact of turbine performance on overall plant performance, and the third uses EES to analyze the relationship between compressor-pressure ration and recuperator effectiveness. The business team is analyzing the results of its market analysis surveys and constructing a house of quality diagram to demonstrate the relation between customer requirements and engineering characteristics. It is also building an economic model to compare various power generation alternatives. The policy team is finishing its analyses of the three universities that are serving as the subjects of three mini case studies and demonstrating the relation between effective policy and increased plant viability and effectiveness.
In addition, Team Cogen is excited to announce it has been selected to present a poster at the Association of Energy Engineers World Energy Engineering Congress in Washington, DC this December.
April 2010
Team Cogen's tour of the FDA facilities gave a firsthand look at the operation of a CHP system with two Mercury 50's, the best turbines on the market. In addition to obtaining plant data for analysis purposes, the team gained a sense of the physical arrangement of different CHP elements in a working system.
February 2010
The team presented a progress update at the Gemstone Junior Colloquia.
The presentation was well received by the younger Gemstone cohorts and the Gemstone staff, who also voiced their approval
of the team's progress in a recent visit to a team meeting.
The three subteams continue to work on their respective tasks. The engineering team continues to organize and analyze the
data they have collected from national universities. The business team completed its
analysis of the turbine market and has determined that there is a significant gap between the desires of the market and
the products currently being manufactured. They plan to use a survey to determine how to differentiate the marketplace
and segment the demand. The policy subgroup completed its compilation and examination of relevant legislation and
decided to complete an abbreviated case study of three universities to determine the effect of federal and state policy
initiatives. They expect to receive IRB approval within a few weeks and will conduct the interviews immediately
thereafter.
As data collection and organization continues, the team is looking forward to senior year by beginning to draft the
thesis, and considering how to best wrap up the research. This process will not be easy, and this semester is crucial
to the team's success.
October 2009
The team has found it most efficient to split into three subgroups, an Engineering Team, a Business Team and a Policy
Team, composed of 4, 3 and 2 students, respectively. As we collect data, we are also preparing for our Gemstone Junior
Colloquium presentation on November 11.
Engineering Team: Team members are working hard to organize and analyze the data collected thus far from universities around the country, using GSP11 to run simulations and ensure the data is accurate and useful.
Business Team: The business team is examining and analyzing the current market for low to mid range turbines to discover areas of unmet demand to identify the potential for new growth in the university CHP market.
Policy Team: The team members focusing on policy have created a list of relevant legislation and are working to analyze the impact of each act on CHP. The journey of a climate bill through the House and the Senate is being followed and its passage is eagerly anticipated, as it is expected to include provisions advantageous for current and potential CHP users.
Summer 2009
GSP11
An update to the GSP10 software was released in June 2009 and the team was pleased to discover that GSP11 is even better
suited to the project’s needs than its predecessor. It has the increased ability to model specific CHP system components
that the team is looking to use in its design.
Research Update
The absence of several team members due to summer travel has not stopped Team Cogen from meeting weekly to discuss
progress. The engineering subgroup is working to analyze the data that has already been collected and determine what
additional material is needed from the contacts made by the business subgroup. The business subgroup is working on a
multitude of projects, from studying relevant federal policy initiatives to researching turbine market specifics. The
team has many goals for the summer and all available team members are working hard toward those goals.
Spring 2009
Data collection underway
Team Cogen is currently contacting universities across the country and requesting data on the CHP plants that these
schools are running. This data will be invaluable as the team works to determine the viability of the systems designed
by team members in the innovating phase of the research process. Team Cogen has decided to use GSP10,
free modeling software, to do two important tasks. First, the team will use the data and information collected from
other schools to replicate their existing systems. In doing so, the credibility of the software will be evaluated so
that the team can ensure its effectiveness and accuracy as a tool for our research. Once this is accomplished, the team
will design several original systems using GSP10 and use the program to demonstrate the viability and advantages of each.
Research Proposal Presented and Approved
The team was required to write a detailed research proposal, complete with literature review and methodology.
This 36-page document was reviewed by the Gemstone staff and in March 2009 the team gave a
formal presentation of the proposal’s content. Attending the presentation were Dr. James Wallace, director
of the Gemstone program, Dr. Rebecca Thomas, assistant director, the team mentor Charli Carr, and Dr. Joe Orlando, from the Mid-Atlantic CHP Center.
Dr. Orlando provided many good suggestions about the direction the team should take and ultimately the proposal was
accepted as the official research design plan for the team.
Fall 2008
Team Gemstone
In November, Team Cogen took part in Team Gemstone, an outdoor challenge course and team bonding experience. The event
took place at the University of Maryland’s Outdoor Recreation Center and included activities designed to foster team
collaboration and communication.
Crafting the Research Proposal
Throughout the semester, the team has been reviewing relevant literature and discussing plans for the next few years.
This information is being carefully compiled into a formal research proposal, for review by the Gemstone staff. The
proposal begins with an introduction and justification of the project, and continues into an extensive and comprehensive
literature review, with contributions from all team members. Next, the research methodology is outlined and the
direction of the project is explained in great detail. Finally, the proposal discusses the anticipated limitations of
the project and the solutions that may be helpful.
The proposal was the first opportunity for the team to produce a deliverable product and the outcome was positive. In
November, the team delivered a proposal presentation outlining the information included in the proposal to the Class of 2011
cohort and Gemstone staff. The team earned a near-perfect score on the assignment and received positive feedback from the
staff.
Spring 2008
Team Cogeneration is formed
The project idea was created by Dylan Rebois and Ethan Schaler, and it passed through several rounds of votes to become
one of the energy-focused teams in the Gemstone Class of 2011 cohort. Team members come from a variety of academic
backgrounds and will bring variety of perspectives and talents to the project. Charles Carr, Senior Technical Consultant
for the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, was selected by team members to vet the project proposal and was
approved by Dr. James Wallace to be the team’s mentor. (link to original research proposal)
