Ryan Kennett wins IMECE Best Student Paper Award

Story by Nicole Kirkner

Ryan Kennett (M.S. ‘16), along with CEEE faculty members, Dr. Yunho Hwang and Dr. Reinhard Radermacher, was awarded “Best Student Paper” for the energy track by the Advanced Energy Systems Division at the November 2017 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition conference (IMECE) in Tampa, Florida. The annual week-long conference is sponsored by The American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and hosts over a thousand mechanical engineers from around the globe.

The paper, "Evaluation of an Extended-Duct Air Delivery System in Tall Spaces Conditioned by Rooftop Units," which was completed in 2016, is a product of a UMD Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program (MIPS ) project. CEEE partnered with XChanger Companies, Inc., a Maryland-based company that has a patent for an air-duct system for tall buildings. Through the project they validated the effectiveness of this system and its capacity to save 20 to 30 percent of air-conditioning energy within retail buildings.

Selected out of 140 entries

The paper was selected out of 140 papers that were submitted for consideration in the energy track at this year’s conference.

In addition to the award, Kennet received a $500 cash prize. Since graduating, he is design engineer on the New Product Development team at Goodman Manufacturing in Houston, Texas. He designs split, residential, outdoor air conditioners and heat pumps. Once the product is designed, he is also responsible for managing projects through their new product development process until they are produced on the factory floor.

“I'm very grateful to my lab CEEE for sponsoring my research and pushing me to publish my findings,” Kennett said. “I would also like to thank the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program and our industrial partner, XChanger Co., for their support.”

Dr. Reinhard was also selected to be an energy plenary speaker at the conference. His presentation titled “Thoughts of the Future of Energy in Buildings: An HVAC Perspective” discussed the increasing demands for energy efficiency and summarized current approaches and outlined future developments and research needed for new HVAC approaches.

Published November 29, 2017