Research Interests:

Dr. Charlie Cromer is Program Director for the FSEC Appliance Laboratory (ALT). Dr. Cromer was interim Director of FSEC's Photovoltaic and Distributed Generation (PVDG) Division (now Solar Division) from Nov. 2003 through March 2006. He has demonstrated expertise in photovoltaics, swimming pool heating systems and solar thermal systems, analysis of dehumidification and dryer systems, building energy and CHP systems, desiccant and phase change cooling systems, thermal storage systems, experimental design, statistics for experiments, applied linear/nonlinear and parametric/nonparametric statistical models, statistical analysis, laboratory and field dataloggers, and electronic transducers and sensing. He has independently proposed, received, and administered over $5 million in research contracts and grants for FSEC. Dr. Cromer has published two Books; two Manuals; more than 70 technical papers, research reports and general information documents. He was editor and contributor for two chapters in the 1991 ASHRAE HVAC Applications Handbook and contributor to the 2007 Applications and 2008 ASHRAE HVAC Systems Handbook. He also was primary author of the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 125?1992 "MOT Thermal Energy Heat Meters for Liquid Streams in HVAC Systems". Some awards and recognition he has received include: Tau Beta Pi, National Engineering Honor Society, with 4.0 average, 1997; Who's Who of American Inventors, 1990; College Award for Excellence in Research, UCF Foundation, 1985; Award for Outstanding Contribution to Solar Industry, FlaSEIA, 1983; and the Martin Marietta Contracts "Man of the Year", 1972. He is an ASES Life Member. Dr. Cromer is a registered Professional Engineer in Florida and has been awarded five patents, several of which are licensed by Trane and used in their CDQ line of products. These include his invention of a thermodynamic cycle that combines a desiccant sorption-desorption cycle with a standard Carnot cycle that provides enhanced dehumidification with reduced energy use. This cycle is named after him and referred to in the literature as the Cromer cycle. This cycle received the 2006 Frost and Sullivan Product Innovation of the Year award, and R&D Magazine's 2006 R&D 100 award, presented each year in recognition of the year's most significant technological innovations.