Prof Brian Norton

Director of the Dublin Energy Lab DIT President

Biography

Professor Brian Norton is the recipient of grants totalling over €10 million. Author or co-author of six books (including a sole-authored major advanced text) and over 300 papers including 140 in learned journals. He has supervised thirty doctorates and serves as Associate Editor of “Solar Energy” the premier international journal in the field and on three other editorial boards.

Professor Norton has chaired of the World Renewable Energy Network (a UNESCO NGO), The Northern Ireland Business Education Partnership and the BSI Technical Committee on Solar Heating and represented the UK university sector on the Board of the Foundation for the Built Environment, which owns the UK Building Research Establishment. He was a ministerial appointee to the Construction Industry Training Board and chaired its Audit Committee.  He was a member of the Built Environment Panel for the U.K. national 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. In 2001/02 he acted as Specialist Advisor to the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment of the N.I. Assembly. He is currently a member of the NI government Energy Policy Steering Group and Chair of the Board of Action Renewables, which is responsible for developing renewable energies in Northern Ireland. He also serves on a joint committee of the UK research councils and on the Council of the Irish Academy of Engineering. He has been an invited plenary speaker to major international conferences and to EU Ministers and OECD meetings.

He is as member of the Irish Government’s “Higher Education Research Group” overseeing the implementation of the national “Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation”.

He has a BSc (Hons) in Physics from University of Nottingham and MSc and PhD degrees, in Engineering Experimentation and Applied Energy respectively, from Cranfield University and DSc from the University of Nottingham. He is a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, the Energy Institute and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland. He is a Chartered Engineer (both in the UK and Ireland) and Member, Higher Education Academy. Among his awards are the Gold Medal of the Amir of Bahrain for "outstanding research achievement in solar thermal applications.”, the Napier Shaw Medal of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the Roscoe Award of the Energy Institute and the Honorary Fellowship of the CIBSE, the highest honour for his professional discipline. From 1989 he was Professor of Built Environmental Engineering at University of Ulster (UU) and in 2003 he was made an Honorary Professor of UU. He has been with DIT since 2003. In 2007 he was made an Honorary Professor of Harbin Institute of Technology and was awarded a “Solar Energy” journal best paper award.

Publications

2006 - 2008

Y. Fang, P. C. Eames, B. Norton, T. Hyde, Y. Huang and N. Hewitt, 2008.  The thermal performance of an electrochromic vacuum glazing with selected low-emittance coatings, Thin Solid Films Volume 516, Issue 6, 30 January 2008, Pages 1074-1081.

B. Swords, E. Coyle and B. Norton, 2008. An enterprise energy-information system, Applied Energy, Volume 85, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 61-69

I. Odeh, Y.G. Yohanis and B. Norton, Influence of pumping head, insolation and PV array size on PV water pumping system performance   Solar Energy. 80, 51-64, 2006

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames and Brian Norton, 2007. Effect of glass thickness on the thermal performance of evacuated glazing , Solar Energy
Volume 81, Issue 3, March 2007, Pages 395-404.

M. Smyth, P.C. Eames and B. Norton, Integrated Collector Storage Solar Water Heaters, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 10, 503-538, 2006

Y G Yohanis and B Norton, Including Embodied Energy Considerations at the Conceptual Stage of Building Design Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A, Journal of Power and Energy, 220,3,271-289, 2006

Philip W. Griffiths, Philip C. Eames, Trevor J. Hyde, Yueping Fang and Brian Norton, Experimental Characterization and Detailed Performance Prediction of a Vacuum Glazing System Fabricated With a Low Temperature Metal Edge Seal, Using a Validated Computer Model, ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 128,2, 199-203,2006

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames, Brian Norton and Trevor J. Hyde, Experimental validation of a numerical model for heat transfer in vacuum glazing, Solar Energy. 80, 5, 564-577, 2006

K.B.P. Shanks, S.N.G. Lo and B. Norton, Appropriate Energy Efficient Building Envelope Technologies for Social Housing in the Irish Climate, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. 21, 2, 191-202, 2006

Y G Yohanis, O Popel, S Frid and B Norton, Geographic Variation of Solar Water Heater Performance in Europe, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A, Journal of Power and Energy:220,395-407, 2006

T. K. Mallick, P. C. Eames and B. Norton, Non-Concentrating and Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Concentrating Building Facade Integrated Photovoltaic: An Experimental Comparison, Solar Energy. 80, 834-849, 2006

 I. Odeh, Y.G. Yohanis and B. Norton, Economic viability of photovoltaic water pumping systems, Solar Energy. 80, 850-860, 2006

M.J. Huang, P.C. Eames, and B. Norton Comparison of a small scale 3-d PCM thermal control model with a validated 2-d PCM thermal control model Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells. 90, 1961-1972, 2006

M.J. Chapman, B. Norton, J. McA. Taylor and D.J. Lavery, The reduction in errors associated with ultrasonic non-destructive testing of timber arising from differential pressure on and movement of transducers  Construction and Building Materials, 20,841-848, 2006

Y.G. Yohanis, O. Popel, S.E. Frid and B. Norton, The annual number of days that solar heated water satisfies a specified demand temperature, Solar Energy. 80, 8, 2006, 1021-1030

A.J. Farrell, B. Norton and D.M. Kennedy, Corrosive effects of salt hydrates phase change materials used with aluminium and copper, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 175, 2006, 198-205

M.J. Huang, P.C. Eames, and B. Norton Phase change materials for limiting temperature rise in building integrated photovoltaics Solar Energy.  80,  9 ,2006, 1121-1130

J.D. Mondol, Y.G., Yohanis and B. Norton, Long term analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system in Northern Ireland, Energy Conversion and Management, 47 18-19, 2006, 600-620

J.D. Mondol, Y.G., Yohanis and B. Norton, Optimal sizing of array and inverter for grid-connected photovoltaic systems, Solar Energy, 80, 1517-1539, 2006

J.D. Mondol, Y.G., Yohanis and B. Norton, The impact of array inclination and orientation on the performance of a grid-connected photovoltaic system, Renewable Energy, 32, 118-140, 2007.

M. J. Huang, P. C. Eames, B. Norton Comparison of Predictions Made Using a New 3D Phase Change Material Thermal Control Model with Experimental Measurements and Predictions Made Using a Validated 2D Model ,  Heat Transfer Engineering, 28, 1,  31-37, 2007

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames, Brian Norton, Trevor J. Hyde, Junfu Zhao, and Jinlei Wang, Low emittance coatings and  the thermal performance of vacuum glazing, Solar Energy, 81, 6-12, 2007

Tapas K. Mallick, Philip C. Eames and Brian Norton, Using air flow to alleviate temperature elevation in solar cells within asymmetric compound parabolic concentrators, Solar Energy. 81, 175-184, 2007

J.D. Mondol, Y.G., Yohanis and B. Norton, The effect of low insolation conditions and inverter oversizing on long-term performance of a grid connected photovoltaic system in a maritime climate, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications.  15,4, 353-368, 2007

S.J. Gallagher, B.C. Rowan, J. Doran and B. Norton, Quantum Dot Solar Concentrator: Device optimisation using spectroscopic techniques, Solar Energy, 81, 540-547, 2007

S.J. Gallagher, B. Norton and P.C. Eames, Quantum Solar Concentrator: Electrical conversion efficiencies and comparative concentrating factors of fabricated devices. Solar Energy. 81, 6,  813-821, 2007

Tapas K Malllick, Philip C Eames and Brian Norton, Power losses in an asymmetric compound parabolic photovoltaic concentrator, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, In Press. 2007

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames and Brian Norton, Thin Solid Films. In Press 2007

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames and Brian Norton, Energy Conversion and Management. In Press 2007

2001-2005

S.N.G. Lo, B. Norton and A. Mannis, Domestic Energy Use and Air Quality: A Case Study of the City of Belfast, Applied Energy, 68, 1-18, 2001.

B. Norton, P.C. Eames and S.N.G. Lo, Alternative Approaches to Thermosyphon Solar-Energy Water Heater Performance Analysis and Characterisation, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2001, 5, 79-96.

M. Smyth, P.C. Eames and B. Norton, Evaluation of a freeze resistant integrated collector/storage solar water heater for northern Europe, Applied Energy, 68, 265-274, 2001.

M. Smyth, P.C. Eames and B. Norton, Annual Performance of Heat Retaining Integrated Collector/Storage Solar Water Heaters in Northern Maritime Climate, Solar Energy, 70, 391-401, 2001.

P.C. Eames, M. Smyth and B. Norton, The experimental validation of a comprehensive unified model for optics and heat transfer in line-axis solar energy systems, Solar Energy, 71, 121-133, 2001.

Y.G. Yohanis and B. Norton, Life –cycle operational and embodied energy for a generic single-storey office building in the UK, Energy, 27, 77-92, 2002

Y.G. Yohanis and B. Norton, Useful solar heat gains in multi-zone non-domestic buildings as a function of orientation and thermal time constant, Renewable Energy, 27, 87-95, 2002

 Y. G. Yohanis and B. Norton, The early design model for prediction of energy and cost performance of building design options, International Journal of Solar Energy, 22, 2, 47-61. 2002

 P.A. Waide and B. Norton, Variation of Insolation Transmission with Glazing Plane Position and Sky Conditions, ASME Journal of Solar   Energy Engineering, 125, 182-189, 2003.

M. Smyth, P. C. Eames and B. Norton, Heat retaining integrated collector/storage solar water heaters, Solar Energy
75,  1,  27-34, 2003

M. J. Huang, P. C. Eames and B. Norton, Thermal regulation of building-integrated photovoltaics using phase change materials,  International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47, 2715-2733, 2004

S.J. Gallagher, P.C. Eames and B. Norton, Quantum dot solar concentrator behaviour, predicted using a ray trace approach. International Journal of Ambient Energy, 25,1, 47-56, 2004

M. Smyth, P.C.Eames and B. Norton, Techno-economic appraisal of an integrated collector/storage solar water heater, Renewable Energy, 29, 1503-1514, 2004

T.K. Mallick, P.C. Eames, T.K. Hyde and B Norton, Experimental Characterisation of an Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Photovoltaic Concentrator for Building Façade Integration in the UK. International Journal of Ambient Energy, 25,2 85-96, 2004

T.K. Mallick, P.C. Eames, T.K. Hyde and B Norton, The Design and Experimental Characterisation of an Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Photovoltaic Concentrator for Building Façade Integration in the UK. Solar Energy.77.3. 319-327, 2004.

M. Smyth, P. McGarrigle, P.C. Eames and B. Norton, Experimental comparison of alternative convection suppression arrangements for concentrating integral collector storage solar water heaters, Solar Energy  78, 223-233, 2005

J.D. Mondol, Y.G. Yohanis, M. Smyth and B. Norton, Long-term validated simulation of a building integrated photovoltaic system, Solar Energy, 78, 163-176, 2005

M. Smyth, B. Norton and W Byers, Measured effect of reflector augmentation of simple basin type passive solar skills, International Journal of Ambient Energy, 25, 59-70, 2005

Yueping Fang, Philip C. Eames, Trevor J. Hyde and Brian Norton, Complex multimaterial insulating frames for windows with evacuated glazing, Solar Energy, 79, 245-261, 2005.