System architecture design of a robust heating system

Power outages are exponentially increasing because extreme weather conditions are occurring more frequently. In addition, the duration of the power outages are increasing. Unfortunately, the will to expand or convert the current electric grid is not there. The objective of this thesis is to design a new system - at a high level - that would protect homeowners from the effects of power outages. To do this, interviews were conducted with people who have actually experienced power outages during winter. Their preference for continued space heating during power outages prompted a design that uses natural gas fuel cell to power a furnace (or boiler) independent of the electric grid. The same system could also provide electricity to the homeowners, if the furnace is turned off. In addition to the system architecture design, surveys were conducted to determine pricing and financial analyses were performed to determine the commercial viability of the design. Consequently, the design proved to be too expensive. What's more, prices would have to drop significantly and / or other stakeholders, such as utility companies, insurance companies and governments, would have to cover most of the cost of the product for there to be a mass adoption.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Akinwale, Olawale A. (Olawale Akintunde)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steven D. Eppinger.

• Engineering and Management Program.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110130

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/110130