America is a great place to get a Ph.D, as well as travel and learn about the country.
Along with her team in the EEHP group, Yiyuan Qiao is working on RoCo, the Roving Comforter, a robotic personal cooling device. The device cools the surrounding environment according to an individual’s personal comfort. RoCo is equipped with facial recognition to help the unit direct airflow at its user, and it communicates using wifi with wearable technology that regulates the airflow and temperature according to the user’s changes in body temperature. “It focuses on the surrounding of the individual rather than the whole environment,” says Qiao, and because of that the device has the potential to save energy in unconditioned, or poorly conditioned environments like office buildings, where there are many individuals with different needs. RoCo works using a miniature heat pump with built-in phase change material (PCM) storage. As RoCo cools, the PCM melts, allowing the device to cool without releasing waste heat.
Yiyuan began working on this project when she came to the program in August 2016 after earning her Master’s Degree in Thermal Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, China. She also earned her undergraduate degree in Thermal Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University.
From one historic city to another
Qiao lived in Xian, China her whole life before coming to the United States to pursue her Ph.D in refrigeration systems. “It’s a very historic city,” she mentions of Xian, “a very slow city, people have time to walk slowly, and enjoy life; not like New York.” Before joining CEEE in August 2016, she visited New York City in January, although despite the differences, she says that her trip to New York was one of the reasons she decided to further her studies in the United States. “America is a great place to get a Ph.D, as well as travel and learn about the country,” says Qiao.
Qiao appreciates the experiences she has had with the EEHP team. She has learned a lot from her group, her advisor, Dr. Yunho Hwang, and faculty specialist, Jan Muehlbauer. “Jan has taught me especially a lot,” muses Qiao, “he is a great leader.”
Wants to continue working in research
After graduation Qiao says she wants to stay in the United States for another 3-5 years and do more research, and after that move back to China. She says she might work in industry or possibly academia; the only thing she knows for certain is that she wants to continue doing research.
In her free time, Qiao likes to watch movies. She says she doesn’t like action movies, but that she likes dramas, “the sad ones,” she adds. She says she likes Titanic and Pride and Prejudice. She also enjoys hiking, and she frequents the Shenandoah Mountains, but she also likes walking the trails around campus.
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