2023 ASHRAE Student Design Competition champions energy-efficient innovations

ASHRAE celebrates the winners of the 2023 Student Design Competition and Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge, showcasing students’ talents in HVAC&R and engineering. Projects include innovative laboratory building designs and a portable IAQ health meter. Top teams receive cash prizes and funding to attend the 2024 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago.

ASHRAE revealed the victorious participants of its 2023 Student Design Competition and Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge. These competitions commend the outstanding abilities and creative problem-solving of students in the fields of HVAC&R, building sciences, and engineering.

This year’s Student Design Competition focused on the design of a new laboratory building, which consist of a large single-story building with a rooftop penthouse and located in Cairo, Egypt. Total building area is approximately 2,515 m2. As part of the project, new HVAC systems were to be designed for the new laboratory facility. The building consists of a wet bench lab, dry bench lab, research support offices, common area for circulation, secured high density data center room, penthouse, common reception area, researcher offices, storage, resting pods room and social room.

For the current year of the Student Design Competition, participants were challenged to create a cutting-edge laboratory building in Cairo, Egypt. Spanning approximately 2,515 m2, the single-story structure with a rooftop penthouse required innovative HVAC system designs. The building featured various spaces such as wet bench and dry bench labs, research support offices, a data center room, penthouse, reception area, researcher offices, storage, resting pods, and a social room.

Teams competed in one of the three categories:

• HVAC Design Calculations
• HVAC System Selection
• Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design

First place in the HVAC Design Calculations category was awarded to Jackson Fritch, John Latta, and Clayton Riley of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. David Yuill, Ph.D., P.E., was the team’s advisor. Pete Uhing, P.E., WELL AP and Brian Kolm, P.E. were the team’s industry mentors.

Placing first in the HVAC System Selection category were Lawrence Copestick, Hasan Shwaish, Hitaishi Gopaul, Cian Silaghi and Zain Tariq of the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Craig Wootton was the team’s advisor.

Receiving first place in the Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design category were Thomas Crook, Girish Gudnennavar, Mirza Baig, Alex He and Rodrigo Gonzalez, Loughborough University, Loughborough, England. Dimitris Tseno was the team’s advisor.

First place teams in the Net Zero Energy Design and Applied Engineering categories will receive a cash prize of $5,000 in addition to $5,000 for their team to travel to the 2024 ASHRAE Winter Conference, January 20-24 in Chicago, Illinois. Winners of the HVAC Design Calculations and HVAC System Selections will receive a cash prize of $2,000 as well as funding for a representative from their team to attend the 2024 ASHRAE Winter Conference. The projects will be recognized during the Conference.