(February 4, 2020) – The Facilities Operations team recently provided a tour of the Utilities Operation Building and South Thermal Energy Plant to faculty member Professor Yufang Jin and two aspiring STEM students. Angela and Emily are involved in the First Lego-Innovative Project competition and decided to create a Personalized Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) System using emotion-sensing monitors to improve patient care in hospitals. They wanted to understand how large facilities (e.g. universities, hospitals) monitor and adjust building temperatures so they could possibly apply that to their project. Facilities Operations explained how the Siemens Building Automation System (BAS) works to monitor and control building temperatures. They then toured the South Thermal Energy Plant to see where the chilled and hot water comes from in providing the building heating and cooling. It was very gratifying to share our Facilities information and UTSA’s HVAC capabilities with these two future female STEM professionals.
