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Introduction

Electronically Commutated Motors (ECMs) are brushless, permanent magnet DC motorswith integrated controls. ECMs are significantly more efficient than the Permanent SplitCapacitor (PSC) motors used in most residential furnaces today. he efficiency impro!ement isespecially e!ident in applications that utili"e reduced circulating air flow rates, as is often donein systems with continuous fan operation. hus, using a natural gas furnace with an ECM insteadof a PSC motor should reduce electrical consumption. #n turn, the decreased electricalconsumption should increase the amount of natural gas re$uired to heat the house, since much of the electricity used by the motor ends up as space heat, and the more efficient motor producesless heat. he net effects should be to sa!e the homeowner money % since natural gas is lesse&pensi!e than electricity per unit of energy, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. During air conditioning, an ECM should sa!e electricity directly and by reducing the load on the air conditioner, with no corresponding increase in gas use.


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Reasons for Using the CCHT Houses

he Canadian Centre for 'ousing echnology (CC') is a facility designed for doingcontrolled e&periments on residential technologies. #t includes two highly instrumented,

identical, unoccupied *+++ houses. Each is two storeys with ** m* (*,-++ ft

*) of floor area,

not counting the full basements. ccupancy is simulated by computer controlled operation of lights and appliances, use of hot water, and generation of heat to simulate the presence of occupants. epeated testing under identical conditions (benchmar/ing) has shown that the twohouses use almost e&actly the same amounts of energy for space heating, air conditioning, hotwater and utilities. he CC' is open to pro0ects from manufacturers, utilities, go!ernmentagencies, and others. 1or more information see www.cchtcctr.gc.

he CC' houses were ideal locations for the ECM test because ha!ing two identicalhouses at the same site allows the effects of a relati!ely small change in one of them to be clearlyshown in the collected data, rather than based on an analysis of space heat loads deri!ed fromoutdoor temperatures, wind speeds and solar radiation.

Testing Conditions

During this pro0ect, the furnace fans ran continuously, operating at higher speed when thefurnace or the air conditioner was on, and at a lower speed when they were not. his is therecommended practice in newer, more airtight houses in which the furnace fan circulates!entilation air. 'owe!er, actual practice seems to !ary across the country. 2 study by 3nies 4td.(Phillips 5667) showed that in 8uebec about 9+: of respondents operated their furnace fanscontinuously, while in the rest of Canada only about *+: did. his is confirmed by a more recentstudy in Manitoba (Pros/iw *++*). Continuous fan operation does increase the impact of switching to an ECM, and hence the real !alue of an ECM will be determined by the dominant!entilation practice in any region of the country.

he furnaces in both houses were midefficiency, singlestage units with rated 213Es of

;5:, and outputs of 57.; /eneral Electric. Static pressures are shown in able 5. hose for heating are within the typicalrange of 79 to 579 Pa for Canadian houses (Phillips 5667).

Methodology

Benchmarking

?enchmar/ing consists of running both of the CC' houses under identical conditions

for se!eral days to !erify that they are using the same amounts of energy. Conditions that are/ept identical in the two houses include indoor temperatures, !entilation rates, hot water use, andinternal gains from lights, appliances and simulated occupancy. nce benchmar/ing has shown

that the consumptions of the two houses are essentially identical, then an e&periment can beconducted by ma/ing a change in the est 'ouse while lea!ing the eference 'ouse unchanged.


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Table 1. Air lo!s " #tatic $ressuresMode 2ir 1low (4@s) Pressure Drop (Pa)

PSC ECM PSC ECM

Circulation -9- *+- 79 *7

'eating A** 969 5A5 5,+2ir conditioning A;5 75+ 5;A 56,

Measuring %uct Air lo!s and $rogramming an &CM

2s mentioned in the introduction, ECMs can be programmed to lower speeds than PSCmotors, and energy sa!ings are significantly increased by the lower ECM speeds. hus, in order to ta/e full ad!antage of the ECM, its circulation speed was set as low as was consideredcompatible with good circulation and air $uality. '>) reductions were calculated in two waysB n the assumption that sa!ed electricitydisplaces coalfired electricity, and based on the actual mi& of generation fuels in each pro!ince.

Results

Benchmarking for Heating

#n 1igure 5, the lower line ( mar/s) shows the results of the benchmar/ing for the spaceheating period of this pro0ect. he coordinates of each point are the furnace gas consumption ineach of the two houses for one day. #f the consumption in both houses were e&actly the sameeach day, then all points would fall e&actly on the 5B5 line, the slope and intercept of their linear

regression would be e&actly one and "ero, and the r * would be one. 2ny significant de!iations

from these !alues would indicate that the houses are not operating identically. he benchmar/ingresults are considered e&cellent, and show that the operation of the two houses was almostidentical, so that any significant differences during ECM testing are due to the ECM. he plotted

results ha!e a slope of +.6;65, an intercept of *.66 M@day, and an r * of +.66;.

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Figure 1. Space Heat Benchmarking and Results

Benchmarking for Air Conditioning

#n 1igure *, the upper line ( mar/s) shows the benchmar/ing for the air conditioning period of this pro0ect. he points are based on the sum of daily electrical consumption of the airconditioner compressor and the furnace fan. he coordinates of each point are this sum for eachof the two houses. 2s with the space heat benchmar/, ideally all points should lie on the 5B5 line. he air conditioning benchmar/ is not as close to perfect as the one for space heat, because theest 'ouse consistently uses slightly more energy than the eference 'ouse, and the difference

between them increases with daily energy use. Fe!ertheless, the r * (+.6676) is still close to

perfect, and as long as there is a clear and consistent difference between the benchmar/ and theresults with an ECM, then the results are still useful.

&ffects of the &CM during Heating

Motor " furnace electricity consum(tion. he power use of the ECM and the PSC motor were

measured in onetime tests, and the results are shown in able *. he second row shows theresults with the reduced ECM circulation flow rate, and the last row shows the results with the

ECM circulation flow as close as possible to the PSCGs. #n heating speed, the PSC motor used-*


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circulation rates nearly e$ual, the ECM used 5-A


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,(erating Conditions- Air conditioners and urnace ans

he furnace fans were operated at three different speedsB high speed for air conditioning,medium speed for heating, and low speed for continuous circulation. ) depends on the actual effects on the twofuels, and the >'> intensity of the fuels. he >'> intensity of natural gas is straight forward, but the intensity of electricity depends on the mi& of fuels used to generate the electricity, and the>'> reductions from sa!ings of electricity depends on which of these fuels will be displaced by

the sa!ings. his paper calculates >'> reductions from electricity sa!ings in two ways. he firstassumes that all electricity sa!ings displace coalfired electricity generation. 2lthough eachlocation has it own mi& of fuels, reductions in demand result in reductions in coalfiredgeneration. E!en in Manitoba where most generation is by hydro power ("ero >'>s), e&cesselectricity is sold to the 3.S. where it can displace coal. he second way is based on the actualmi& of generation fuels in each of the pro!inces in which pro0ections are done. able shows the>'> intensities used in this report (Pare/h *+++).

he !alues of /g C*@> in able clearly show that if sa!ed electricity is generatedfrom coal, then an ECM will definitely reduce >'> emissions. Electricity from coal is almostsi& times as >'> intensi!e as natural gas, so sa!ing electricity and using more natural gas willsignificantly reduce >'> intensity, regardless of differences in their efficiencies of use.

'owe!er, if electrical >'> intensity is based on pro!incial fuel mi&es, the situation is !erydifferent. #n ntario, and especially in Manitoba, electricity is less >'> intensi!e than gas, sosubstituting gas for electricity could result in significant increases in emissions. #n Few?runswic/, electricity is 59: more >'> intensi!e than gas, so the net effect on emissions coulddepend on their efficiencies of use.

'ow to best calculate the >'> reductions from electrical sa!ings is contro!ersial. Some people are con!inced that coal is always the swing fuel, while others belie!e that this assumptione&aggerates >'> reductions because natural gas, oil or hydro power may be the swing fuel.


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Table 3. Greenhouse Gas Intensities

1uel>reenhouse >as (>'>) #ntensity

/g C*@m

/g C*@/D

Fatural >as 5.65*- 95.A7

Electricity from Coal 5.5 ,+9.9AElectricity, Manitoba +.+5+A6- *.67+A

Electricity, ntario +.+765- *+.9*

Electricity, Few ?runswic/ +.*5*;;6 96.5A

3sing pro!incial a!erages probably underestimates the effects of reductions because

capital intensi!e nuclear and hydro plants (counted as "ero >'> emitters) are less li/ely to be

reduced than fossil fuel plants. his report presents >'> reductions calculated by both methods,

and allows readers to ma/e their own 0udgements.

$ro'ection Results

Continuous Circulation an

o summari"e the results for all cities, houses and furnacesB

K Sa!ings of electricity are more than 5,9++ / emissionsrange from an increase of ; /g C*@y to a decrease of 5* C*@y. nly Moncton showed anydecreasesL in the other cities the smallest increase was A+ /g C*@y.

K Fatural gas prices in the four cities !ary by 7: from +.A6A to +.9+7 @m, and

electricity prices !ary by A+: from +.+996 to +.+;6A @/'> intensity between that of coalfired electricity and electricity from the pro!incial mi&es of generating fuels,

K a means of reducing homeownersG utility bills, andK a means of increasing gas sales.


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/o Circulation an

2ll conditions are the same as in the pre!ious section, e&cept that the furnace fan operatesonly when there is a demand for space heat or air conditioning. 2s would be e&pected, the effectsof an ECM without continuous circulation are much smaller than with. 1or oronto, sa!ings of electricity due to an ECM range from 6+ to 7* /'> emissions are ;5 to A+/g C*@y, and based on the pro!incial fuel mi&, increases in >'> emissions are A to * /g

C*@y. esults for the other cities are similar. hus, whether ECM furnace fan motors will ha!esignificant benefits depends critically on whether the furnace fan is run in continuous mode for atleast a significant part of the year.

0ree Continuous Circulation !ith an &CM

2 house with a PSC motor and no circulation mode that changed to an ECM withcontinuous circulation would see only a !ery small increase, or a small sa!ing, in its utility bills.his can be seen by comparing the pro0ections for ECMs with continuous circulation with thosefor PSC motors with no circulation mode. 2 comparison of the costs for all four cities shows thatthe ma&imum e&tra utility bill for continuous circulation with an ECM would be 9.5-@y. hegreatest reduction would be 56.+6@y. 1or all cities and houses, the a!erage result is a sa!ing of .95@y. hus, ha!ing made the initial purchase of an ECM, occupants could en0oy the health andcomfort benefits of continuous circulation for !irtually no cost, or e!en a small sa!ing in their utility bills.

Com(arison !ith other &CM #tudies

2 recent study for the 2CEEE (Sachs N Smith *++) predicts much larger effects thanthis report does from ECMs and similar energy efficient motors. he 2CEEE study uses >as

2ppliance Manufactures 2ssociation (>2M2) data on annual electrical use by highefficiencygas furnaces to separate them into those with and without energyefficient motors, and then tocalculate the annual electrical sa!ings and gas increases due to efficient motors. he >2M2ratings are based on operation of the furnace fan only when the furnace is producing heat. hus,all of their findings are for no continuous circulation.

able - compares electrical sa!ings. he 2CEEE sa!ings for 2M2 map of heatingload hours is in the same "one as


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2@C.


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In this manuscript, research on hydrogen internal combustion engines is discussed.

The objective of this project is to provide a means of renewable hydrogen based fuel

utilization. The development of a high eciency, low emissions electrical generator

will lead to establishing a path for renewable hydrogen based fuel utilization. A full

scale prototype will be produced in collaboration with commercial manufacturers.

The electrical generator is based on developed internal combustion engine

technology. It is able to operate on many hydrogencontaining fuels. The eciency

and emissions are comparable to fuel cells !"#$ fuel to electricity, % # &'(). This

electrical generator is applicable to both stationary power and hybrid vehicles. It

also allows speci*c mar+ets to utilize hydrogen economically and painlessly.

Introduction

Two motivators for the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier today are -) to

provide a transition strategy from hydrocarbon fuels to a carbonless society and )to enable renewable energy sources. The *rst motivation re/uires a little discussion

while the second one is selfevident.

The most common and cost e0ective way to produce hydrogen today is the

reformation of hydrocarbon fuels, speci*cally natural gas. 1obert 2illiams discusses

the cost and viability of natural gas reformation with 3' se/uestration as a cost

e0ective way to reduce our annual 3'

emission levels. 4e argues that if a hydrogen economy was in place then the

additional cost of natural gas reformation and subse/uent 3' se/uestration is

minimal !2illiams -556).

-

7ecarbonization of fossil fuels with subse/uent 3' se/uestration to reduce

or eliminate our 3'

atmospheric emissions provides a transition strategy to a renewable,

sustainable, carbonless society. 4owever, this re/uires hydrogen as an energy

carrier.

The objectives of this program for the year ### are to continue to design,

build, and test the advanced electrical generator components, research hydrogenbased renewable fuels, and develop industrial partnerships. The rationale behind

the continuation of designing, building, and testing generator components is to

produce a research prototype for demonstration in two years. 8imilarly, researching

hydrogen based renewable fuels will provide utilization components for the largest

possible application. 9inally, developing industrial partnerships can lead to the

transfer of technology to the commercial sector as rapidly as possible.


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This year wor+ is being done on the linear alternator, twostro+e cycle

scavenging system, electromagnetic:combustion:dynamic modeling, and fuel

research. The 8andia alternator design and prototype will be *nished, and the

8andia and ;agne/uench designs will be tested. 2or+ on the scavenging system

consists of learning to use =, and designing the scavenging e(periment. 1on

;oses of ?os Alamos &ational ?aboratories is conducting the modeling@ modeling ofthe alternator is being performed. 4ydrogen based renewables, such as biogas and

ammonia, are the fuels being researched. 'utside of modeling and research, an

industrial collaboration has been made with 3aterpillar and ;agne/uench

International, a major supplier of rare earth permanent magnet materials. A

collaborative research and development agreement !31A7A) has been arranged

with 3aterpillar, and ;agne/uench is designing and supplying a linear alternator. In

addition, the prestigious 4arry ?ee =an 4orning Award presented by the 8ociety of

Automotive ngineers !8A) was awarded in 'ctober -555 for a paper concerning

homogeneous charge compression ignition !433I) with a free piston !8A 5BCBC).

Background

lectrical generators capable of high conversion eciencies and e(tremely

low e(haust emissions will no doubt power advanced hybrid vehicles and stationary

power systems. 9uel cells are generally considered to be ideal devices for these

applications where hydrogen or methane are used as fuel. 4owever, the e(tensive

development of the I3 engine, and the e(istence of repair and maintenance

industries associated with piston engines provide strong incentives to remain with

this technology until fuel cells are proven reliable and cost competitive. In addition,

while the fuel cell enjoys high public relations appeal, it seems possible that it may

not o0er signi*cant eciency advantages relative to an optimized combustion

system. In light of these factors, the capabilities of internal combustion engines

have been reviewed.

In regards to thermodynamic eciency, the 'tto cycle theoretically

represents the best option for an I3 engine cycle. This is due to the fact that the fuel

energy is converted to heat at constant volume when the wor+ing Duid is at

ma(imum compression. This combustion condition leads to the highest possible

pea+ temperatures, and thus the highest possible thermal eciencies.

dson !-56C) analytically investigated the eciency potential of the ideal

'tto cycle using compression ratios !31) up to >##-, where the e0ects of chemical

dissociation, wor+ing Duid

thermodynamic properties, and chemical species concentration were

included. 4e found that even as the compression ratio is increased to >##-, the

thermal eciency still increases for all of the fuels investigated. At this e(treme

operating for instance, the cycle eciency for isooctane fuel at stoichiometric ratio

is over B#$.


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Indeed it appears that no fundamental limit e(ists to achieving high eciency

from an internal combustion engine cycle. 4owever, many engineering challenges

are involved in approaching ideal 'tto cycle performance in real systems, especially

where high compression ratios are utilized.

3aris and &elson !-5"5) investigated the use of high compression ratios for

improving the thermal eciency of a production =B spar+ ignition engine. They

found that operation at compression ratios above about -E- did not continue to

improve the thermal eciency in their con*guration. They concluded that this was

due to the problem of nonconstant volume combustion, as time is re/uired to

propagate the spar+ignited Dame.

In addition to the problem of burn duration, other barriers e(ist. These include

the transfer of heat energy from the combustion gases to the cylinder walls, as well

as the operating diculties associated with increased pressure levels for engines

con*gured to compression ratios above "- !'verington and Thring -5B-,

;urana+a and Ishida -5BE). 8till, *nite burn duration remains the fundamentalchallenge to using high compression ratios.

The goal of emissions compliance further restricts the design possibilities for

an optimized I3

engine. 9or e(ample, in order to eliminate the production of nitrogen o(ides

!&'(), the fuel:air mi(ture must be homogeneous and very lean at the time of

combustion !7as -55#, =an Flarigan -55"). !It is subse/uently possible to use

o(idation catalyst technologies to suciently control other regulated emissions such

as 43 and 3'.) 4omogeneous operation precludes diesel type combustion, and

spar+ignition operation on premi(ed charges tends to limit the operatingcompression ratio due to uncontrolled autoignition, or +noc+. As well, very lean

fuel:air mi(tures are dicult, or impossible to spar+ ignite.

'n the other hand, lean charges have more favorable speci*c heat ratios

relative to stoichiometric mi(tures, and this leads to improved cycle thermal

eciencies. /uivalence ratio is no longer re/uired to be precisely controlled, as is

re/uired in conventional stoichiometric operation when utilizing tree way catalysts.

/uivalence ratio is de*ned here as the ratio of the actual fuel:air ratio to the

stoichiometric ratio.

Combustion Approach

4omogeneous charge compression ignition combustion could be used to

solve the problems of burn duration and allow ideal 'tto cycle operation to be more

closely approached. In this combustion process a homogeneous charge of fuel and

air is compression heated to the point of autoignition. &umerous ignition points

throughout the mi(ture can ensure very rapid combustion !'nishi et al -5E5). =ery

low e/uivalence ratios !G % #.>) can be used since no flame propagation is re/uired.


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9urther, the useful compression ratio can be increased as higher temperatures are

re/uired to autoignite wea+ mi(tures !

433I operation is unconventional, but is not new. As early as -5"E Alperstein

et al. !-5"B) e(perimented with premi(ed charges of he(ane and air, and nheptaneand air in a 7iesel engine.

They found that under certain operating conditions their single cylinder

engine would run /uite well in a premi(ed mode with no fuel injection whatsoever.

In general, 433I combustion has been shown to be faster than spar+ ignition

or compression ignition combustion. And much leaner operation is possible than in

8I engines, while lower &'( emissions result.

;ost of the 433I studies to date however, have concentrated on achieving

smooth releases of energy under conventional compression condition !31 % 5-).3ran+shaft driven pistons have been utilized in all of these previous investigations.

Fecause of these operating parameters, successful 433I operation has re/uired

e(tensive H1 and:or inta+e air preheating.

3onventional pressure pro*les have resulted !Thring -5B5, &ajt and 9oster

-5B>).

In order to ma(imize the eciency potential of 433I operation much higher

compression ratios must be used, and a very rapid combustion event must be

achieved. 1ecent wor+ with higher compression ratios !%--) has demonstrated

the high eciency potential of the 433I process !3hristensen et al -55B,3hristensen et al -55E).

Modern 4-Stroke Heavy Duty Diesel ngine

C


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ngineering Con!guration

The free piston linear alternator illustrated in 9igure has been designed in

hopes of approaching ideal 'tto cycle performance through 433I operation. In this

con*guration, high compression ratios can be used and rapid combustion can be

achieved.

"igure # $ "ree piston linear alternator

The linear generator is designed such that electricity is generated directly

from the pistons oscillating motion, as rare earth permanent magnets *(ed to the

piston are driven bac+ and forth through the alternators coils. 3ombustion occurs

alternately at each end of the piston and a modern twostro+e cycle scavenging

process is used. The alternator component controls the pistons motion, and thus

the e(tent of cylinder gas compression, by eciently managing the pistons +inetic

energy through each stro+e. 3ompression of the fuel:air mi(ture is achieved

inertially and as a result, a mechanically simple, variable compression ratio design

is possible with sophisticated electronic control.

The use of free pistons in internal combustion engines has been investigated

for /uite some time.

In the -5"#s, e(periments were conducted with free piston engines in

automotive applications.

In these early designs, the engine was used as a gasi*er for a single stage

turbine !Jnderwood -5"E,


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#ummary " Conclusions

Electronically commutated motors (ECM) are significantly more efficient than the permanently split capacitor (PSC) motors used in most residential furnaces. his is especiallytrue at the lower speeds used for continuous circulation in many new houses. #n order to $uantifythe effects of an ECM on electricity and gas consumption, we installed an ECM in one of the twoidentical houses of the Canadian Centre for 'ousing echnology (CC'), and obser!ed theamounts of furnace natural gas, furnace fan electricity, air conditioner compressor electricity, andall internal electricity in the two houses.


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6+: efficiency, can displace significant amounts of electrical energy. his efficiency is at leasttwice the efficiency with which electricity could be generated from gas by any /nowntechnology. During air conditioning the ECM sa!ed the following percentagesB -;: of the fanenergy, -: of the compressor energy, *5: of the air conditioner (fan plus compressor) energy,and 5-: of the electricity used by the entire house.

he '*+++ house energy simulation model was used to pro0ect the CC' results to acomplete year, and also to combinations of other houses, furnaces and climates. 1or houses thatoperate furnace fans in continuous circulation mode, the pro0ections show similar benefits o!er awide range of conditions, and indicate that ECMs would ha!e significant benefits as a demandside management tool for reducing electrical demand, and as a way of increasing natural gassales. Electrical sa!ings range from 5,99 to *,655 /'> emissions based on

pro!incial mi&es of generating fuels. hese !ary from significant increases in


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especially important in houses that use the furnace fan to distribute fresh air to the house. hus,

ECMs can be part of a pac/age promoting better circulation, comfort and health.

hus, this pro0ect demonstrated two important results. he /ey result is the demonstrationof the benefits of the use of ECMs as furnace fan motors. he second result is the demonstrationof the ability of the CC' to be used as a !aluable research facility for e&amining energy sa!ing

opportunities, by accurately measuring secondary and tertiary effects of a relati!ely small changein one of the houses.?ased on the results of this study, Enbridge >as Distribution now has a successful

program to promote the installation of furnaces with ECMs.1urther study to define the potential impacts of ECMs could includeB

K 2 statistically s ignificant s tudy of the percentages of houses that use continuouscirculation. he study should include $uestions as to whether people would use continuous

circulation if they thought it would impro!e comfort and health, and how much they would bewilling to pay for it.

K 2 study of the costs of ECMs and similar motors, including wholesale costs for !arious

$uantities, and resulting costs to consumers.K Sur!eys of utilities to determine what their usual swing fuels are.

he results of this report indicate that there are significant potential benefits from ECMs.

1urther study would better define these benefits, and help to determine the most costeffecti!e

incenti!e programs to promote them.

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