Cost- and Energy-Efficient Control Systems for Buildings
This project exploits high-resolution data gathered in KTH Live-in Lab research testbeds through an advanced and modular monitoring set-up, capable of acquiring real-time data on indoor environmental quality and involved energy flows including ground source heat pumps, photovoltaic panels and ventilation.
Background
To move towards intelligent and smart buildings, methods and demonstrations are needed. Monitoring data is currently collected without exploiting the inner potential for innovative solutions. This is typically due to, among other reasons, the lack of efficient and dedicated sensor network design and data structures.
Recommendations for a cost-efficient implementation of monitoring and control systems, depending on the building and the energy supply system characteristics, are necessary, but not yet available as common practice.
Old and new buildings lack comprehensive guidelines and demonstrations about the impact of faulty settings on energy use. Consequently, the opportunities for enabling the energy saving potential of ICT solutions are still locked, and the system maintenance is also negatively affected.
Project description
This project aims at demonstrating cost-effective solutions able to increase the system energy efficiency. Databases of high-resolution and high-quality data can lead to new valuable insights and the creation of new opportunities. Research testbeds offer unique resources to develop and test smart monitoring and control solutions that have a valuable impact on increasing the energy-efficiency in the built environment.
This project will exploit the high-resolution, real-time data gathered in the KTH Live-in Lab research testbed through an advanced sensor and data infrastructure, in order to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of smart buildings. As a result, the operative definition of smart building will be enabled. Sensor measurements will be used to identify common faulty settings in buildings’ ventilation and heating systems, estimating their impact on the energy use. Particular attention will be dedicated to the user experience, the impact of the users’ energy use, and visualization techniques to promote energy-efficient behaviours.
Aim and objectives
- Assess the quality of data from advanced monitoring systems.
- Enhance existing features and improve the exploitation potential of existing databases.
- Detect and identify the most common faulty settings in heating and ventilation that are causing the systems to underperform and estimate the related energy waste.
- Test and implement advanced and self-tuning control strategies.
- Showcase the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of ICT solutions to increase the efficient energy use in buildings and improve comfort.
The desired outcome of this project is to contribute to the reduction of the primary energy use in the building sector, and thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, it would also enhance the competitiveness of the Swedish building sector with respect to the challenge of sustainable, low energy buildings.
Implementation
Three building facilities will be used as implementation and prototypes: The KTH Live-In Lab’s Testbed KTH , Undervisningshuset and the neighbourhood of Uppsala Backe. The first round of data analysis will be carried out in the Testbed KTH and Undervisningshuset; this will help to identify the room for improvement in both buildings and support the design of the ICT infrastructure in Botrygg’s Uppsala Backe.
Primary areas of investigation are:
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Monitoring, Data analysis and Fault detection
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Control Approach Evaluation
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Analysis of Technical and Economic Opportunities
Aim and objectives
- assess the quality of data from advanced monitoring systems
- enhance existing features and improve the exploitation potential of existing databases
- detect and identify the most common faulty settings in the heating and ventilation that are causing the systems to underperform and estimate the related energy waste;
- test and implement of advanced and self-tuning control strategies;
- showcase the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of ICT solutions to increase the efficient energy use in buildings and improve comfort
Outcomes
The Project aims at demonstrating cost effective solutions able to increase the system energy efficiency. The outcomes of the Projects will contribute to the reduction of the primary energy use in building sector and to
reduce the greenhouse emission. The Project will also increase the level of competitiveness for the Swedish building sector towards the challenge of sustainable and low energy buildings.
Time period:
2019-2022
Publications
M. Molinari, D. Rolando, J. A. Vogel. Kostnads- och energieffektiva styrsystem i byggnader, Kyla och Värme 2019.
M. Molinari, D. Rolando, Digital twin of the Live-In Lab Testbed KTH: development and calibration , IPBSA BuildSim-Nordic 2020 Conference, Oslo (online), Norway, 2020.
D. Rolando, M. Molinari, Development of a comfort platform for user feedback: the experience of the KTH Live-In Lab , ICAE International Conference on Applied Energy, ICAE2020, Bangkok (online), Thailand, 2020.
M. Molinari, J. A. Vogel, D. Rolando, Using Living Labs to tackle innovation bottlenecks: the KTH Live-In Lab case study , MITAB 2021.
M. Molinari, D. Rolando, A. Lazzarotto. Energy and indoor environmental quality monitoring of a lecture building: preliminary results from the KTH Live-In Lab Testbed AH, MITAB 2022
K. Bäcklund, M. Molinari, P. Lundqvist, P. Karlsson, Showcasing the First Steps Towards a Digital Twin for Campus Environments , BuildSim Nordic 2022: 10th BuildSim Nordic conference and the 2nd International Nordic conference for IBPSA, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022; doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202236210003 .
Rolando D, Mazzotti Pallard W, Molinari M., Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds. Energies. 2022; 15(14):4955; doi.org/10.3390/en15144955 .
M. Farjadnia, A. Alanwar, M. U. B. Niazi, M. Molinari, K. H. Johansson, Robust Data-Driven Predictive Control of Unknown Nonlinear Systems using Reachability Analysis. European Control Conference, ECC2023, Bucharest, Romania, 2023.
A. Fontan, M. Farjadnia, J. Llewellyn, C. Katzeff, M. Molinari, V. Cvetkovic, K. H. Johansson, Social interactions for a sustainable lifestyle: The design of an experimental case study, 22nd World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control, IFAC2023, Yokohama, Japan, 2023; doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.10.1642 .
M. Farjadnia, A. Fontan, A. Russo, K. H. Johansson, M. Molinari, What influences occupants’ behavior in residential buildings? An experimental study on window operation in the KTH Live-In Lab, 7th IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, CCTA2023, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2023; doi:10.1109/CCTA54093.2023.10253188 .
M. Molinari, J. A. Vogel, D. Rolando, P. Lundquist, Using living labs to tackle innovation bottlenecks: the KTH Live-In Lab case study, Applied Energy, Volume 338, 2023. doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120877 .
M.Farjadnia, A. Alanwar, M. Umar B. Niazi, M. Molinari, K. H. Johansson, Robust data-driven predictive control of unknown nonlinear systems using reachability analysis, European Journal of Control, Volume 74, November 2023; doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcon.2023.100878 .
K. Bäcklund, M. Molinari, P. Lundqvist B. Palm, Building Occupants, Their Behavior and the Resulting Impact on Energy Use in Campus Buildings: A Literature Review with Focus on Smart Building Systems, Energies 2023, 16(17), 6104; doi.org/10.3390/en16176104 .
K. Walther, M. Molinari, K. Voss, The role of HVAC controls in building Digital Twins: lessons learned from demonstration buildings with an application to air handling units, Building Simulation 2023, 18th IBPSA International Conference and Exhibition, Shanghai, China, 2023; doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2023.1434 .
K. Bäcklund, M. Molinari, P. Lundqvist, In Search for Untapped Energy-Saving Potential in Green and Smart Higher Educational Buildings—An Empirical Case Study Involving the Building Occupants, Buildings 2023, 13(12), 3103 doi.org/10.3390/buildings13123103 .
K. Bäcklund, P. Lundqvist, M. Molinari, Showcasing a Digital Twin for Higher Educational Buildings: Developing the Concept Towards Human Centricity, Frontiers in Built Environment, Volume 10, 2024, doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1347451 .
