UC Irvine

Overview

Located in the UC Irvine Campus next to the prestigious Engineering department  the design of the wood-frame autonomous administration building is a quality representation of innovation  design integration and environmental sustainability. The building is composed of a concrete first floor lobby that is 14 feet with high ceilings for aesthetics and room for harnessing any design systems. The other floors are composed of a glue laminated wood-frame structure  raising 12 feet each story. Each floor will contain a total area of 2880 square feet  providing administrative utility parcels  such as office spaces and conference rooms. The important features of the new autonomous building is its self-healing concrete  fire resistivity  and a passive heating/ cooling system. The self-healing concrete minimizes the formation of cracks  preventing the need for maintenance in the future. Glue-laminated recycled wood is used for fire resistivity and its stronger nominal capacity. The passive cooling/ heating system will be using 28 solar power integrated windows called SolarWindows™ for better energy storage and leverage natural elements. The cost and budgeting was also calculated to be less costly and more environmental friendly to construct than a steel frame structure. Indeed  there is a urgent need for new clean  renewable energy sources.

Current energy sources are outdated while many have negative impacts on the

environment. The goal of this project is to implement a molten salt tower to provide eco-friendly power. Molten salt towers have already been successfully implemented in several locations including Nevada  China  Spain  and Germany. This system uses the sun’s energy  molten salt technology  and thermal storage to generate clean renewable energy. In addition to building the molten salt tower  passive stack ventilation will be used to ventilate the building using little power. Evaporative coolers will be used in conjunction with the passive stack ventilation in order to cool the building when outside air is not enough to cool the building. The main challenge of this project is finding land large enough to build the tower on. To overcome this challenge  the tower will be scaled down to fit in the lot behind Vista Del Campo  while maintaining maximum efficiency and the ability to produce >4000W. At the same time  incorporating the different

electrical systems requires a highly sophisticated device control.

The device control system incorporates Fault Detection and Diagnostic (FDD) systems  with an array of sensors that are connected to a Programmable Logic Computer (PLC). This will autonomously collect measurements and follow smart pathways to respond to certain situations. The computer considers the location of the sensors  severity of the situation  and follows smart pathways to ensure the most effective solution to the situation. A server connected to the PLC communicates with employees through an app. By incorporating location in the output of the sensors  the building will run more sustainably and efficiently. The use of an app will streamline every day office tasks and communicate with employees in case of an emergency. Also  delivering day-to-day mail can be incorporated by the smart autonomous Destixign interior delivery system. Destixign has a system that will not only save a client’s time and money in the

long-run  but will provide safe  efficient  and reliable delivery within the building. In this design report the team introduces the mechanical innovative and economic advantages with their system. Destixign still engineered their project in a way that meets all the requirements and has a low budget which will attract more customers. As delineated before the team’s design uses the universal law of magnetism to transport a package. This allows for a system which will be economic durable and best innovative.

Presented at the UCI Engineering Conference, May 26-28, 2018 at University of California Irvine.