CoolFIT: Residential Smart Fan with Integrated Thermostat
The goal of this project is to demonstrate that smart ceiling fans coordinated with thermostat and Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems can shed and shift peak load while maintaining thermal comfort. The smart ceiling fan consumes on average 8 watts during operation (compared to ~4000 watts for air conditioning), and has occupancy and temperature sensors to only turn on when people are present and the temperature is above a certain threshold. Ceiling fans use air movement to cool people; the energy savings comes from raising the thermostat setpoint to reduce cycling of the HVAC system.