Department of
Architecture and Built Environment
 

Image of Yupeng Wu

Yupeng Wu

Chair in Building Physics, Leader for Public Engagement, Faculty of Engineering

Contact

  • workRoom A10 Energy Technologies Building
    Innovation Park
    Triumph Road
    Nottingham
    NG7 2TU
    UK
  • work0115 74 84011
  • fax0115 95 13159

Biography

Professor Yupeng (Jack) Wu is a Chair in Building Physics at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, and he is also a member of Low Carbon Energy and Resources Technologies Research Group. Jack has been working on building energy simulation and integration of renewable energy systems into buildings and built environment over the past 16 years. Jack has extensive experience in the design, fabrication and experimental characterisation of the optical and thermal performance of solar systems. He has supervised over 20 PhD students and managed postdoctoral researchers. Jack has worked on and led funded research projects with a total value in excess of £10m, exploring energy efficient technologies, solar energy, and advanced solar building facades. His current research is focusing on Solar façade (Building integrated PV, Smart window, Transparent insulation, etc), Thermal Energy Storage, District Heating System, Building energy simulation, Integration of renewable energy systems into buildings and built environment.

Professor Wu has published over 80 refereed papers contributing to the state of the art in renewable energy technologies and their application to the built environment. Jack serves as subject Editor for the journal of 'Renewable Energy'. He is a full member of the EPSRC peer reviewer college and is also reviewer for European, Canadian and US funding agencies.

Yupeng Wu is part of the Low Carbon Energy and Resources Technologies Research group.

Teaching Summary

Building Service Design 4

Built Environment and Fluid Mechanics 1 and 2

Energy Efficient Design in Building

Research Summary

Current Postdoctoral Research Projects

1. Advanced building façade design for optimal delivery of end use energy demand (Funded through EPSRC, £1,653,108, 2019-2024): We are going to carry out a holistic approach to develop advanced façades technologies to achieve building energy demand reduction goals. Low cost optical components will be designed and integrated into conventional double glazing, which will significantly increase the thermal resistance of the window, provide control of the solar heat gain, and enable windows to perform better than walls on a yearly basis in terms of their net energy balance. Building energy loads will be reduced significantly while providing comfortable daylight. The target is that when integrate in a typical commercial building the novel glazing façade system will provide comfortable annual daylight levels achieving over a 20% reduction in annual artificial lighting energy consumption, reduce space heating demand by over 30% in the heating season and cooling load by 20% in Summer. The integration in a façade system of active solar energy technologies with better performing windows may potentially lead commercial buildings to be a negative energy load on an annual basis.

2. Embedded systems for integrated Photovoltaics in Rural Buildings: E-IPB (Funded through Innovate UK, £950,937, 2017-2019): The project which is jointly funded by the Innovate UK and China Ministry of Science and Technology is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham, University of Exeter and Sichuan University (China), and industry. The aim of this project is to develop a low cost solution for a solar energy system integrated into building facades and/or building roofs, and also evaluate its impact on building energy performance. The proposed project will:1) develop low cost and lightweight thin-film modules for UK and Chinese climatic conditions; 2) aim to achieve 1.5% higher electrical efficiency compared with the present recorded value of 22.6% developed by Germany's Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden- Württemberg (ZSW); 3) demonstrate technical and commercial viability of lightweight glass on glass optical devices integrated with a thin-film PV system with a targeted 2% efficiency enhancement, to allow light, maintain heat loss coefficient and generate electricity at the point of use; 4) develop an integrated spectral dependent optical-thermal-electrical model for both thin-film and optically enhanced thin-film PV modules.

Completed Postdoctoral Research Projects

1. Smart solar concentrator for building integrated photovoltaic facades (Funded through Dean of Engineering Prize, University of Nottingham): This research will explore and develop a novel lightweight static concentrating Photovoltaics (PV) system with optimised performance suitable for use in windows or glazed façades in buildings. The proposed system is low cost and high efficiency, has the ability to generate electricity and hot water simultaneously, and can be effectively integrated into an existing building envelope component. This novel system will also respond automatically to climate, varying the balance of electricity generated from the PV and the transmission of daylight and shortwave radiation into the building. It therefore offers the potential to minimise and control net energy use in buildings.

2. Development of a passive heat recovery and storage system for greenhouse façade/roof (KTP010169, £59,888, 2015-16): This project aims to design, develop and implement a passive heat recovery and storage system for the ETFE foil encapsulated greenhouse façade/roof using phase change material. It will provide good daytime light transmittance, store unwanted heat and maintain a more comfortable condition within the greenhouse. Heat stored during the day will subsequently be used during the night for passive heating.

3. Tensile Membrane Structure Design and Integration with PV, (KTP009912, £175,000, 2015-2018). This project aims to plan, develop and implement novel tensile membrane structures and also adaptable textile-covered building facades integrating tensile photovoltaic membranes for energy harvesting and environmental control.

Current PhD projects

1. Transparent Insulation Material for Building Energy Saving and Daylight Comfort: This research will explore and develop a novel low cost and transparent solar facade to reduce energy consumption in buildings. An optical and thermal model will be used to aid the system design. The performance and stability of the developed system will be investigated in a controlled indoor environment and also outdoor environment.

2. Development of an adaptive facade element for daylight and thermal control: This study focused on analyzing the thermal and visual performance in an office building when VO2-based thermochromic smart windows applied. Research includes: 1) simulating smart window in a typical office room under various climatic conditions to investigate its influence on window heat gain/heat loss, energy consumption, Useful Daylighting Illuminance (UDI); 2) exploring the human response to thermochomic windows, including reading acuity, contrast and colour naming, aiming to test the acceptance of thermochromic smart windows in practical.

3. The development of standardised methods for testing phase change energy storage system for heating/cooling application: The overall long term research aim is to propose and develop a unified standard (such as British or European Standard), and certification standards and procedures to test and analyse latent heat thermal energy storage systems (LHTESS). The short term aim for the proposed project will however concentrate on developing a lab-scale prototype LHTESS to establish confidence in its ability to deliver the theoretical cooling/heating performance.

4. 3D Engineering of Dye-sensitized solar cells: The aim of this project is to increase efficiency of Dye-Sensitized solar cells (DSCs) via 3D engineering design and analysis. DSCs currently use a nanoporous TiO2 film sensitised to visible light by the adsorption of a suitable dye molecule which then undergoes charge transfer to the oxide. By engineering the hierarchical structure of this TiO2 film to provide a much more open structure, which increases the photoactive region of the cell, and the interaction of the dye molecules with the liquid electrolyte needed to replenish the injected electrons.

5. Building information modelling for building energy analysis:This project is going to adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Building Energy Modelling (BEM) for optimisation of building design and energy consumption. This project will explore the potential and deficits of the modelling, analysis and optimisation of energy efficient buildings using BIM to BEM methodology, through case studies.

Selected Publications

Past Research

Knowledge Transfer Partnership- KTP9213 (2013-2015): To design, develop and implement a modular self-supporting structural-construction system comprised of linked ETFE foil encapsulated panels.

NERC- NE/F017715/1 (2008-2009) Mitigation potential of horizontal Ground Coupled Heat Pumps for current and future climatic conditions: UK environmental modelling studies

EPSRC - EP/D060214/3 (2007-2008) Development of a Novel Tunnel-junction-free Concentrator Cell and its Evaluation for a Smart Windows Application

LUCENT Project ​DTI, TP/2/RT/6/I/10078 (2007-2008) Experimental tests and Thermal modelling of Fresnel lens PV concentrators

Optical and thermal prediction, and experimental testing of an Asymmetric Compound Parabolic PV concentrator (ACPPVC) coupled with a Phase Change Material (PCM) system suitable for building façade integration.

Design and manufacture a large area highly collimated solar simulator

Future Research

Renewable Energy Technologies for building applications

Building simulation and Survey

Smart windows

Building Integrated PV systems

Thermal Energy storage

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and International countries who are interested in the following research areas: Solar façade (Smart Window, PV, Concentrating PV, Transparent Insulation Materials etc.), Thermal Energy Storage, District Heating System, Building energy simulation, Integration of renewable/cleaner fossil energy systems into buildings and built environment.

Department of Architecture and Built Environment

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD


telephone: +44 (0) 115 95 14184