I was pleased to attend and to present a paper at Clima this year. Lausanne is a beautiful old city on the lake and the convention center, Palais Beaulieu shown here was a great venue. The City of Lausanne was a delightful site for this international congress of building technologies, with the theme "High Tech, Low Energy". The international REHVA Congress held only once every four years, was hosted by Switzerland. It offered a unique chance to present and discuss the trends of future and sustainable building technologies. The main topics were;

• New Trends in Building Technologies
• Simulation based Engineering
• Sustainable BuildingsI

Presentations were many and on a broad range of topics but I focused on Building Automation only. Below I have shared the abstracts of my fellow presenters to provide a sense of the flavour of the event.

Converging Redundant Sensor Network Information for Improved Building Control
Dale K. Tiller, Gregor P. Henze and Xin Guo
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Architectural Engineering

ABSTRACT
Knowing how many people occupy a building, and where they are located, is a key component of building energy management and security. Commercial, industrial andresidential buildings often incorporate systems used to determine occupancy, however, current sensor technology and control algorithms limit the effectiveness of both energy management and security systems. A network of sensors would provide better occupancy detection than current systems, which are often based on single monitoring points. A new occupancy detection sensor network was developed, commissioned and installed in two private offices. This paper reports results collected to validate the response of the sensor network to office occupancy, as compared with two additional independent methods of occupancy detection. The results show that the sensor network more accurately determines occupancy than any single point of occupancy detection.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

INTEGRATED AUTOMATION AND SIMULATION TEST ENVIRONMENT FOR BUILDING ENERGY SYSTEMS
Martin Becker1, Gregor P. Henze2, Andreas Köhler1, Roland Koenigsdorff1, Mark Lehnertz1, Hermann Scherer1
1University of Applied Sciences Biberach, Germany, Institute of Building and Energy Systems
2University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, Architectural Engineering

ABSTRACT
Simulation is increasingly gaining importance as a tool for optimization of buildings and their energy systems, not only during the design phase but also during building operation. An important issue to consider is the steady-state and dynamic behavior of building energy systems governed by building automation systems. Online building simulation tools can help to reduce the energy consumption of plants, e.g. by optimizing control parameters during plant operation. Commissioning of plants and fault diagnosis during operation may be improved by modern simulation and automation concepts. At the University of Applied Sciences Biberach a new classroom and laboratory building has been created that is used as an innovative test environment to investigate building systems under actual operating conditions. The building features a variety of opportunities for whole-building simulation, automation and control of both conventional and sustainable HVAC systems, individual rooms and the building structure. In this paper, the test environment and its benefits will be described. As an example, simulation and experimental results of an air collector model are presented. Based on these simulation models, improved automation and control strategies can be developed and investigated in the simulation environment before they will be deployed in the field. The simulation environment can also be used as an optimization tool during operation for energy and building management purposes.

APPLYING ADVANCED CONTROL STRATEGIES IN BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION BY USING RUN-TIME COUPLING
Azzedine Yahiaoui1, Jan Hensen1, Luc Soethout2, Dolf van Paassen31Center for Building & Systems TNO-TU/e
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands2TNO Built Environment and Geosciences Postbus 49, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands 3TU Delft, Department of Mechanical Engineering Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

[an error occurred while processing this directive] ABSTRACT
The use of advanced control technologies and intelligence control in buildings could make the current high performance system much more efficient and reliable. The integration of advanced control strategies in buildings will certainly produce significant results for better building productivity. One way to achieve this aim could be done by developing run-time coupling approach. This paper describes the need for the study and development of better control modeling in building performance simulation by integrating distributed computer programs. To explore control application benefits, the paper also describes the simulation results that would eventually achieve lower energy consumption and higher productivity in buildings. A case-study is presented which illustrates a potential ability of advanced control strategies in buildings. Practically, it shows why and how a run-time coupling approach is more appropriate to achieve better control modeling in building performance simulation.

LATEST TRENDS IN NETWORKED BUILDINGS
Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner
AutomatedBuildings.com

ABSTRACT
Learn how networked building automation and corporate enterprise are rapidly converging with deep integration of real time information. The power of web services, XML, and evolving wireless standards are presented. Applications are cited to show how these new trends and the powerful network connection to the enterprise are being used to create sustainable and connected buildings. The new approach creates an instant feedback loop using real time operating data from building systems to the design team allowing them to know if they have succeeded in creating a sustainable building. Actual energy flows and real time analysis of client comfort becomes very visible through these new technologies and allows a virtual conduit for building stakeholders to verify design compliance and improve operational control and energy efficiency. The paper provides connections to valuable online resources which are the bases of the identified trends.

All and all it was a great exchange of information.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[Click Banner To Learn More]

[Home Page]  [The Automator]  [About]  [Subscribe ]  [Contact Us]