United Technologies Research Centre

Organisation description:

United Technologies Research Centre (UTRC) delivers advanced technologies to the businesses of United Technologies Corporation (UTC). UTC is a diversified company that provides a broad range of high-technology products and services to the global aerospace and building systems industries. Its commercial business – UTC Building & Industrial Systems – is the world’s largest provider of building technologies. Its elevator, escalator, fire safety, security, building automation, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems and services promote integrated, high performance buildings that are safer, smarter and sustainable. The company’s aerospace businesses are Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and UTC Propulsion & Aerospace Systems, which includes Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines and UTC Aerospace Systems aerospace products.

UTRC engages with UTC business units and external research organisations globally to pursue research and develop innovative technologies that meet/anticipate marketplace needs. Founded in 1929, UTRC is headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut (U.S.), with an office in Berkeley, California, and research and development centres in Shanghai, China and Cork, Ireland. United Technologies Research Centre Ireland, Ltd. (UTRCI), established in 2009, serves as UTRC’s European research hub and, as such, conducts research into the next generation of energy and security systems for high-performance buildings, generating world-class technologies for UTC’s commercial businesses in Europe. Recently, UTRC Ireland added aerospace systems research to its portfolio to support UTC’s large industrial presence in Europe.

UTRC Ireland’s core research expertise covers the areas of building/HVAC and district energy management, including system and component level modelling, equipment and system-level control, optimisation, and diagnostics. UTRC Ireland has served as a lead partner in several EU funded programs, most notably FP7-SCUBA, FP7-COOPERATE, FP7-Energy IN TIME and FP7-GENiC, with a research portfolio including: i) advanced fault detection and diagnostic algorithms for building HVAC systems, ii) advanced optimal and fault tolerant controls for buildings and iii) optimised control methods for integrated demand, supply and storage energy management (including demand-response and demand-management) for buildings and neighbourhoods. Additionally, UTRC Ireland is actively engaged in several real-world demonstrators of advanced equipment, building and district-level control and diagnostics solutions across Europe.

www.utrc.utc.com

Contribution to OptEEmAL:

UTRC Ireland is motivated by OptEEmAL’s focus on the development and demonstration of an optimised, integrated and systemic design platform for refurbishment of buildings and districts that reduces the uncertainties and the time during this process providing actors with innovative capabilities to evaluate building/district designs and identify cost-optimal efficiency packages. UTRCI applies its expertise in building/HVAC refurbishment, system-level control, system and component level modeling, optimisation, and diagnostics to achieve OptEEmAL’s objectives. In this regards, UTRCI leads/contributes to the development of data analytics tools that identify poor-performing building components and suggest ECMs (WP1), definition of the requirements for District Data Model (WP2), development of ECMs catalogue with emphasis on HVAC equipment and controls upgrades (WP3), optimisation of potential retrofit scenarios (WP4). In addition, UTRCI will support the platform integration (WP5) and actively engage in validation, field demonstration (WP6) and dissemination (WP7) of the OptEEmAL platform.

Contact persons:

Hassan Ridouane
E-mail: ridouae@utrc.utc.com
Phone: +353 21 455 1778
Role in the project: Main technical contact

Kostas Kouramas
E-mail: KouramK@utrc.utc.com
Phone: +353 21 455 1215
Role in the project: Technical contact