UF Engineers Develop HVAC Powered by Multiple Energy Sources

Saeed Moghaddam, Ph.D., Knox T. Millsaps professor of the UF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, along with industry and organizational partners, has received a $1.89M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The group will be developing a breakthrough cooling and heating system based on a technology invented at UF’s Nanostructured Energy Systems Laboratories (NESLabs) directed by Moghaddam.

In undertaking this project, Moghaddam and his team are filling a critical gap in achieving a more renewable energy future. Traditional cooling and heat pumping systems that are at the heart of HVAC technology on the market today use electricity-driven compressors. An alternative heat-driven system, invented by Ferdinand Carré in 1858, existed and remained popular through the early 1900s but was replaced by compressor-based systems due to their higher efficiency, lower cost, and robustness. Inventions by Moghaddam’s team address these shortcomings of Carré’s system and provide efficiency comparable to the electricity-driven compressors.