With the increasing demand of energy consumption and the growing serious greenhouse effect, how to utilize the energy in a higher efficiency becomes a global problem. For Collins Aerospace, one of the biggest aerospace manufacturers, they use the CHP power plants as their choices for the energy supply to improve the energy utilization rate and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants utilize multiple types of energy during the power supply. Compared with the traditional power plants which convert the chemistry energy into the electricity energy, the CHP power plants can provide more energy with the same amount of fuel. Ideally, the efficiency of the CHP plants can reach to 70 to 80 percent while the traditional power only has an efficiency in the range between 25 to 40 percent. In this project, we aim to explore the CHP system in Collins Aerospace to figure out: (1) the current power distribution and the efficiency of the system; (2) The current cost of the power plants; (3) the potential conditions which influence the efficiency and cost of the system. After that, we hope to optimize the system in the following ways: (1) Finding the energy input and the inner temperature at which the system has the highest efficiency. (2) Analyzing the system to save the cost and maximize the profits. (3) providing some design for the power storage material chosen for the system.

Our team collaborated with Mechanical Engineering 17 on this project.