Home | News Room | Cogeneration System at Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

2/13/03 Des Plaines, IL

Through the assistance of GTI, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry unveiled a 1.75-megawatt cogeneration system today aimed at providing heat, power, and dehumidification to the museum. The system, comprised of a Cummins Inc. QSV91GB lean-burn reciprocating engine-generator set and a Munters AM30N-S Drycool desiccant dehumidification unit, can pull moisture from 10,000 cubic feet of air per minute. It will operate approximately 3,380 hours per year.

GTI both contributed to (through its Sustaining Membership Program) and leveraged approximately $1.3 million for the project. Contributing through GTI were the U.S. Department of Energy and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Others contributing directly to the museum were the Chicago Department of Environment and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.

The Cummins generator-set system will provide electric power as well as high-pressure steam (produced from the engine jacket water and engine exhaust), which will be fed into the museum's existing steam header. The electrical generator will be connected in parallel with the Commonwealth Edison Company's electrical grid and will operate as a peak-shaving system. The Munters unit will condition building air by removing moisture during summer months using a desiccant wheel and by preheating incoming air during winter months. The Munters unit uses steam produced by the heat from the Cummins generator-set.

"GTI completed an economic evaluation for the museum and presented the findings to museum officials," says John Kelly, GTI's Director, Distributed Energy Resources. "We're confident that this cogeneration system will help reduce the facility's energy costs as well as improve its electrical power quality and the condition of its air."

Adds Michael Connolly, GTI's Instrumentation and Controls Engineer, who also managed the project for GTI, "The installation of this system at a facility as well-respected as the Museum of Science and Industry will go a long way toward educating other building operators about the concept of BCHP (building cooling, heating, and power) and how natural gas can be used to provide electricity as well as heat."

In operation since 1933, the museum is the oldest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and is one of Chicago's largest tourist attractions. It is among the seven most visited in the United States; nearly 400,000 children (school groups and youth organizations) visited in 2000.

"The Museum of Science and Industry is proud and grateful to be the recipient of this BCHP project," says Greg Prather, Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., assigned to the museum in the role of Director of Facilities and Operations. "In addition to being able to significantly reduce annual energy costs for the museum, the system provides us with the opportunity to showcase state-of-the-art, energy-efficient technology."

GTI conducted performance evaluation tests on the Cummins equipment at its new Distributed Energy Technology Center (DETC), located at its headquarters in Des Plaines, IL. The DETC is equipped to test Distributed Energy equipment up to 2.5 MW in capacity, as well as control ambient environmental conditions and fuel supplies. In addition, GTI will be installing an Internet-based, remote-monitoring system to collect field data on both the generator-set and desiccant system at the museum.

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