The Cover Letter_ Ramin Shabanpour

With increasing tempo of the science and technology, it is foremost to keep abreast of latest
technology in our field of study. As a matter of fact, engineering is a broad and limitless area which help
human to cope with difficulties of living and ameliorate the level of welfare.
I chose mechanical engineering with the specialty of heating ventilating and air-conditioning
(HVAC) as my interest in the section of bachelor science. In my view, it includes vast range such as
HVAC, industrial piping, refrigeration, power generation etc. I think, my brother has a significant role to
get me motivated to study in HVAC engineering when I found I was eligible to enter the university as
bachelor of mechanical engineering. In my undergraduate years, I acquired strong background in the
fundamental of basic mechanical engineering subjects like Thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid
mechanics, calculation and design of HVAC loads and equipment, design of industrial cold storages and
learning of Carrier and AutoCAD software in order to strengthen my applied knowledge of mechanical
and HVAC engineering. My B.S. thesis was about introduction and application of different kinds of
absorption chillers which made me to delve deeply through this subject.
After graduation I decided to continue my education in energy engineering because of a major
thought. It is unanimously agreed that that energy crisis threaten our world. So subjects like energy
conservation, energy efficiency, energy storage and saving, renewable energies and energy auditing might
lie at the center of engineering subjects. I have a strong and outstanding desire to work on mentioned
fields as I worked during M.S period. I presented several seminars in renewable energies especially solar
and biofuel energies and their methods of harvest, exploitation and utilization.
I carried out some course related projects about thermal and electrical energy storage devices
such as boiler economizers, heat pumps and super-capacitors. Furthermore I spent a course about power
plant equipment and in my view it gave me a good concept of power plant devices, their applications and
how they operate. This course stimulated me to dig some researches for my own sake about different
power generation technologies which diminish the needs of using fossil fuels and might be a satisfying
alternative for these polluting fuels. One of my interests is working on combine heat and power (CHP)
systems using different prime movers. This interest inspired me to work on Stirling engine as a prime
mover of a CHP system. With suggestion of my supervisor (Pr. Hoseyn Sayyaadi), I made a decision to
plan a system that apply Stirling engine using solar energy with the aid of dish/Stirling technology in
order to supply power demand of a building. This system was integrated with a conventional HVAC
system in order to supply heating, cooling and hot water demand of the building. Due to exerting various
energy load profiles, we considered our virtual building to be located in five different cities with diverse
climatic condition in Iran. To better clarify the merits and demerits of proposed system I could not rely on
a specified analysis. So I made a decision to perform energetic, exergetic, economical, environmental and
finally a thermo-economic analysis for the mentioned system. The economic analysis was carried out
based on TRR (Total Revenue Requirement) method. That was so time-consuming and exhausting
process but if I ask myself do I content with doing that, my answer is yes of course.
I obtained a lot of experience during my M.S period and in my perspective, the most important
one was learning the correct and suitable methods of searching and dealing with some energy related

software such as RetScreen, Energy plus, EES and MATLAB programming software. I have done three
energy and economic analysis with RetScreen software which is a good tool for energy and economic
calculation. I have two published papers one in Energy Conversion and Management Journal and one in
Iranian Society of Mechanical engineering conference as few outputs of my attempts and another paper
under preparation for submission in Energy and Building Elsevier journal. It should be mentioned that I
am writing my third paper which is an Exergo-Economic analysis of the mentioned system in my first
journal paper.
In conclusion, I find your university offer as a pre-requisite needed to accomplish my goals in
life. The work experience, research or training that I will acquire during the course of PhD program will
assist me to get a head start in my profession and it is the magnetism that has attracted me to your
University. I sincerely hope to have a mutually beneficial association with your University to contribute
my best towards making a successful research endeavor.
Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely.
Ramin. Shabanpour Moghadam, M.Sc in Energy Engineering at Power & Water University of
Technology, Department of Mechanical & Energy Engineering. Tehran. Iran.