Abstract
The article describes the results of the project “open source smart lamp” aimed at designing and developing a smart object able to manage and control the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of the built environment. A first version of this smart object, built following a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach using a microcontroller, an integrated temperature and relative humidity sensor, and techniques of additive manufacturing, allows the adjustment of the indoor thermal comfort quality (ICQ), by interacting directly with the air conditioner. As is well known, the IEQ is a holistic concept including indoor air quality (IAQ), indoor lighting quality (ILQ) and acoustic comfort, besides thermal comfort. The upgrade of the smart lamp bridges the gap of the first version of the device providing the possibility of interaction with the air exchange unit and lighting system in order to get an overview of the potential of a nearable device in the management of the IEQ. The upgraded version was tested in a real office equipped with mechanical ventilation and an air conditioning system. This office was occupied by four workers. The experiment is compared with a baseline scenario and the results show how the application of the nearable device effectively optimizes both IAQ and ILQ.
Highlights
The term “nearable”, used for the first time in 2014 as part of a marketing campaign, is used to uniquely identify the idea of smart objects that can be equipped with a variety of sensors and can work as transmitters to broadcast digital data [1]
The system is split in two parts (Figure 1): a monitoring station placed near the workstation able to assess the exact level of illuminance and air quality, and a wireless receiving station connected to the nearable monitoring station that manages the actuation of both the air exchange system and the lamp
The actuation control logic of the smart lamp allows for management of the lighting and air exchange system in order to optimize both indoor air quality (IAQ) and indoor lighting quality (ILQ) conditions, recording the CO2 concentration exchange system in order to optimize both IAQ and ILQ conditions, recording the CO2 concentration and a.m. and and andthe theilluminance illuminancevalues
Summary
The term “nearable” (or nearable technology), used for the first time in 2014 as part of a marketing campaign, is used to uniquely identify the idea of smart objects that can be equipped with a variety of sensors and can work as transmitters to broadcast digital data [1]. The above considerations are the basis for design and development of the smart lamp [18] implemented by researchers of the Construction Technologies Institute—National Research Council of Italy (ITC-CNR) [19] following the principles of the “maker movement” philosophy and the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach [20,21,22] which is applied more and more in different contexts: from monitoring systems [23,24] to control systems of renewable energy sources (RES) [25,26], to applications in the biomedical field in order to make the equipment less expensive and, more accessible [27,28] One such device, built using a microcontroller, and an integrated temperature and relative humidity sensor, as well as some other modules, exploited additive manufacturing (AM). The new version of the smart lamp was tested in the same office by monitoring the environmental variables for 14 days, divided in two periods with different control configurations: the former with manual control (23–29 May 2016) and the latter with automatic control (30 May–5 June 2016)
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