Victor Fontalvo

By combining transcritical CO₂ heat pump technology with intelligent control algorithms, nextgeneration heating and cooling systems can significantly reduce energy use and fossil fuel dependence 

 Heating and cooling systems represent about 55% of building energy use, with 88% of global heat production still reliant on fossil fuels. Heat pumps, particularly those using transcritical, ejectorequipped CO₂ systems, offer an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional systems. These systems benefit from intelligent control strategies to boost efficiency and adapt to changing demand and environments. The ULTRA project is developing algorithms for regulatory control, energy optimization, and maintenance scheduling to enhance system performance and lower energy consumption and emissions. 

This presentation covers initial results on control algorithms for CO₂ systems used in air conditioning, heating, and hot-water systems. 

About the speaker:

Dr. Fontalvo is a mechanical engineer holding both MSc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering and is a former Fulbright Scholar. He was awarded the prestigious Colombian Doctoral Student Scholarship in the United States in 2018. He has over 17 years of academic experience in higher education, with a strong focus on research management, accreditation processes, and interdisciplinary engineering education. His research focuses on industrial process automation and control, energy conversion, and hydrogen-based power generation. He has led and contributed to international research projects in renewable energy and control systems, collaborated with governmental agencies in Chile and Colombia, and conducted research stays at universities in the United States and Denmark 

Track: Symposium