Professor Rick Greenough

Job: Professor of Energy Systems

Faculty: Computing, Engineering and Media

School/department: School of Engineering and Sustainable Development

Research group(s): Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD)

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)116 207 8714

E: rgreenough@dmu.ac.uk

W: www.dmu.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/iesd/index.aspx

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Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD)

Publications and outputs

Application of the superposition technique in conduction heat transfer for analysing arrays of shallow boreholes in ground source heat pump systems
dc.title: Application of the superposition technique in conduction heat transfer for analysing arrays of shallow boreholes in ground source heat pump systems dc.contributor.author: Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Greenough, R. M.
Thermal Analysis of an Earth Energy Bank
dc.title: Thermal Analysis of an Earth Energy Bank dc.contributor.author: Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Sakellariou, Evangelos; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Greenough, R. M.
Steam storage systems for flexible biomass CHP plants - Evaluation and initial model based calculation
dc.title: Steam storage systems for flexible biomass CHP plants - Evaluation and initial model based calculation dc.contributor.author: Greenough, R. M.; Stark, Matthias; Conti, F.; Abdessamad, S.; Zörner, W. dc.description.abstract: Within the present study a novel concept for the demand-oriented power generation of a solid-biomass fueled combined heat and power (CHP) plant is investigated. The integration of a steam storage system into the plants process enables a decoupling of the steam (boiler) and the power generation (steam turbine). By buffering the steam, the power output of the turbine can be adjusted without changing the rated thermal capacity of the plant. Various available storage systems are selected and comparatively evaluated applying the adapted analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The technology assessment revealed that the combination of a steam accumulator and solid concrete storage represents the best suiting option. An initial model based simulation study is performed to identify the fundamental behaviour of this system, integrated in a biomass CHP plant. The operation principle is has proved their technical feasibility and seems to be applicable at a commercial scale. According to the modelling results flexible short term power generation in a time range of up to fifteen minutes is applicable. A load-range of almost the plants rated capacity can be achieved. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Experimental study of a domestic solar assisted ground source heat pump with seasonal underground thermal storage through shallow boreholes
dc.title: Experimental study of a domestic solar assisted ground source heat pump with seasonal underground thermal storage through shallow boreholes dc.contributor.author: Greenough, R. M.; Naranjo-Mendoza, Carlos; Oyinlola, M. A.; Wright, A. J. dc.description.abstract: With the current need to reduce carbon emissions, new technologies have been developed in recent years to satisfy building thermal demands. Among others, ground-source heat pumps (GSHP) have been implemented, in both commercial and residential applications, to meet heating and cooling needs in a cleaner and more energy efficient way. Likewise, solar thermal systems have been integrated into conventional GSHP systems to reduce the size of the ground heat exchanger and provide seasonal heat storage. So far, this technology has been used in large commercial or residential buildings, mainly due to its high installation costs. This paper describes a study of an experimental Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump (SAGSHP) system for domestic heating applications. The system uses an array of shallow (1.5-metre deep) vertical boreholes to store heat seasonally in an underground ‘earth energy bank’. The results show that after 19 months of operation the system was able to show a good performance in order to cover the space heating requirements of the building in winter. Likewise, it was evidenced that the solar energy injected in the ground is useful not only to recover the soil from the thermal imbalance but also to store heat. Results also highlighted the need to improve the control strategy, mainly to avoid excessive inlet fluid temperatures at the evaporator. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Can fuel cell micro-CHP justify the hydrogen gas grid? Operating experience from a UK domestic retrofit
dc.title: Can fuel cell micro-CHP justify the hydrogen gas grid? Operating experience from a UK domestic retrofit dc.contributor.author: Boait, Peter John; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: Fuel cell based micro combined heat and power (micro CHP) has been the subject of numerous simula- tion studies. We report on actual practical performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) micro CHP in a UK dwelling over the 2017–18 heating season and compare its performance with a Stirling engine micro CHP which it replaced. Results show that the PEMFC micro CHP achieves a much higher an- nual electricity output over a year, with household self-consumption and operating economics dependent on electric vehicle charging. Empirical models derived from this operating experience show that the value of this technology is less sensitive to building parameters, occupancy, and climate change when compared to engine-based micro CHP. We consider the potential role of this technology in the decarbonisation of heat, and highlight the benefit of reliable electricity generation injected into low voltage distribution to mitigate winter demand peaks from heat pumps. A comparative analysis of the primary energy efficiency of different methods of meeting domestic energy demand using natural gas with carbon capture shows that a mixed solution to decarbonisation of heat, combining heat pumps, PEMFC micro CHP, and hydro- gen boilers, should not degrade energy efficiency substantially by comparison with an all-electric solution and could be more acceptable to consumers. dc.description: The authors would like to thank the European Commission for partial funding under the Horizon 2020 PACE project of the PEM fuel cell micro CHP evaluated in this study. Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.04.021 The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Are shallow boreholes a suitable option for inter-seasonal ground heat storage for the small housing sector?
dc.title: Are shallow boreholes a suitable option for inter-seasonal ground heat storage for the small housing sector? dc.contributor.author: Naranjo-Mendoza, C.; Wright, A. J.; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: In recent years, various researchers have studied the performance of Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump (SAGSHP) systems using borehole heat exchangers. However, the research conducted has been limited to conventional boreholes (30m to 150m depth), which are expensive and not suitable for the small housing sector. This paper reports an experimental analysis of a shallow SAGSHP system with inter-seasonal storage. The system, installed in Leicester UK, consists of seven photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collectors connected in series with an array of 16 shallow boreholes (1.5 meters depth). Data regarding the energy fluxes involved in the soil-based thermal store have been monitored and analysed for one year. The results show that the shallow soil is able to serve as a storage medium to cover the heating demands of a near zero energy domestic building. However, it was noticed that in addition to the solar heat captured and stored in the soil, the system covers part of the heating demand from heat extracted from the soil surrounding the thermal store. During winter, the lowest temperature reached by the soil so far is 2 °C. Hence, no freezing problems have occurred in the soil. An analysis of the temperature variation of the ground storage under the system operation is also shown. dc.description: open access
Methodological Evaluation of Storage Systems for Flexible Power Generation from Solid Biomass
dc.title: Methodological Evaluation of Storage Systems for Flexible Power Generation from Solid Biomass dc.contributor.author: Stark, Matthias; Trinkl, Christoph; Zörner, Wilfried; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: The increasing number of fluctuating renewable power producers in the electricity grid leads to several challenges in the grid's infrastructure and its operation. Biomass combustion plants, however, can be modified to increase the flexibility of power production by integrating steam storage devices. In this paper, the available storage systems are evaluated, considering the boundaries of the plants and the requirements of power grids and markets. An objective result is generated by conducting a Delphi study using energy experts. The Utility-Value-Analysis method is used to identify the most promising storage concept. Using this methodology, the resulting storage concept is found to be a combination of a steam accumulator and a solid storage. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Exergy analysis of a four pan jaggery making process
dc.title: Exergy analysis of a four pan jaggery making process dc.contributor.author: Khattak, Sanober; Sardeshpande, V.; Brown, Neil; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: Jaggery is a non-traditional sweetener that is produced from boiling sugarcane juice. Due to the energy intensive nature of the combustion process in jaggery making, previous studies in literature have presented various process and equipment modifications to affect its energy efficiency. This study adds to the understanding of the resource transformations and consumptions in the jaggery process by presenting its exergy analysis. The baseline process was operationally modified for which the exergy efficiency and exergy destruction are calculated. Through the modifications, the exergy efficiency and exergy destruction increased by 11.2% and 0.8% respectively. A significant amount of exergy was wasted as surplus heat in the form of flue gas, which reduced by 11.5% due to process modifications. The results show that while the most evident form of resource waste was due to flue gas released into the environment, the largest form of resource consumption was actually due to exergy destruction arising from irreversibilities in combustion, a result not clearly evident through energy analysis alone. Through modelling process flows in terms of exergy, the analysis presented in this paper increases the visibility of the resource consumptions and losses in the jaggery making process. This study should aid the efforts of researchers and practitioners aiming to reduce resource consumption in the jaggery making process. dc.description: open access article
A comparison of analytical and numerical model predictions of shallow soil temperature variation with experimental measurements
dc.title: A comparison of analytical and numerical model predictions of shallow soil temperature variation with experimental measurements dc.contributor.author: Naranjo-Mendoza, C.; Wright, A. J.; Oyinlola, M. A.; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: In several fields of enquiry such as geothermal energy, geology and agriculture, it is of interest to study the thermal behaviour of shallow soils. For this, several analytical and numerical methodologies have been proposed to analyse the temperature variation of the soil in the short and long term. In this paper, a comparative study of different models (sinusoidal, semi-infinite and finite difference method) is conducted to estimate the shallow soil temperature variation in the short and long term. The models were compared with hourly experimental measured data of soil temperature in Leicester, UK, at depths between 0.75 and 2.75 m. The results show that the sinusoidal model is not appropriate to evaluate the short-term temperature variations, such as hourly or daily fluctuations. Likewise, this model is highly affected by the undisturbed ground temperature and can lead to very high errors. Regarding the semi-infinite model, it is accurate enough to predict the short-term temperature variation. However, it is useless to predict the long-term variation at depths greater than 1 m. The finite difference method (FDM) considering the air temperature as a boundary condition for the soil surface is the most accurate approach for estimating both short and long-term temperature variations while the FDM with heat flux as boundary condition is the least accurate approach due to the uncertainty of the assumed parameters. The ranges of errors for the sinusoidal, semi-infinite and FDM are found to be from 76.09 to 142.13%, 12.11 to 104.88% and 1.82 to 28.14% respectively. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Towards improved energy and resource management in manufacturing
dc.title: Towards improved energy and resource management in manufacturing dc.contributor.author: Khattak, Sanober; Oates, Michael; Greenough, R. M. dc.description.abstract: Exergy analysis has widely been used to assess resource consumption, and to identify opportunities for improvement within manufacturing. The main advantages being its ability to account for energy quality and consumption. However, its application in industrial practice is limited, which may be due to the lack of its consistent application in practice. Current energy management standards, that facilitate consistent application of procedures, do not consider the quality aspects of energy flows. An exergy based energy management standards is proposed in this paper that would take into account energy quality aspects, while facilitating the consistent application of exergy analysis in industrial practice. Building on ISO50001, this paper presents guidelines for implementing energy and resource management in factories, incorporating the concepts of exergy and holistic factory simulation, illustrated through a manufacturing case study. From the factory level analysis, a chilling process was identified to have significant improvement potential. A dry fan cooler, using ambient air was proposed for improved efficiency of the chillers. Energy based metrics portrayed a system that operated at high efficiency, however exergy analysis indicated much room for further improvement, therefore impacting decision making for technology selection. The contribution of this paper is in presenting a set of prescriptive guidelines that could possibly be further developed into a new energy management standard that would utilize the advantages of exergy analysis towards improved energy and resource management in manufacturing. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.

Click here for a full listing of Rick Greenough's publications and outputs.

Research interests/expertise

Industrial sustainability, low carbon manufacturing, energy efficient manufacturing.

Areas of teaching

Renewable Energy Technology

Industrial Sustainability

Qualifications

PhD Advanced Manufacturing

MSc Industrial Robotics and Manufacturing Automation

BA (Oxon) Engineering Science

Courses taught

ENGD2033 Near Zero Emissions Technologies

ENGD5220 Low Impact Manufacturing

Membership of professional associations and societies

Member of IET

Member of Energy Institute

Conference attendance

Benedettini, O., Baines, T.S., Lightfoot, H.W. and Greenough, R.M. (2008), ‘State-Of-The-Art In Integrated Vehicle Health Management’, In: Proceedings of the 3^rd World Conference on Production and Operations Management (POM Tokyo 2008), 5^th-8^th August 2008, Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan.
Greenough RM. (2009), ‘Manufacturing As If The World Matters’, In: O’Donnell, G.E and Kelly, K. (eds), Proceedings of the 26th International Manufacturing Conference IMC-26, 2^nd – 4^th September 2009, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, pp. 33-40. ISBN: 978-0-9562303-8-6.
Ball, P.D., Despeisse, M., Evans, S., Greenough, R.M., Hope, S.B., Kerrigan, R., Levers, A., Lunt, P., Oates, M.R., Quincey, R., Shao, L., Waltniel, T., Wheatley, C. and Wright, A.J. (2011), ‘Modelling Energy Flows Across Buildings, Facilities and Manufacturing Operations’, In: Young, P. and Geraghty, J. (eds), Proceedings of the 28th International Manufacturing Conference IMC-28, 30^th August – 1^st September 2011, Dublin City University, Ireland.
Oates, M.R., Wright, A., Greenough, R.M. and Shao, L. (2011), Understanding Resource Flows in a Factory Environment – a Graphical Approach, In: Bartolo, H. et al. (eds). Proceedings of the ^1st International Conference in Sustainable Intelligent Manufacturing, SIM2011, 2^9th June – ^1st July, Leiria, Portugal, pp. 95-102.

Externally funded research grants information

The Carbon Game, EPSRC, Partnerships for Public Engagement, PI

KAP, EU FP7, PI

THERM, TSB, CI

LESSONS, TSB, CI

Professional esteem indicators

Rick was asked to review a proposal for a Royal Academy of Engineering public engagement grant under the RAE ‘Ingenious’ scheme. Proposal was entitled: ‘Renewable energy in SCI-FUN, the Scottish Science and Technology Roadshow’.