Intelligent Building Technology Research Articles

Reduced order modeling and parameter identification of a building energy system model through an optimization routine

Different control techniques together with intelligent building technology (Building Automation Systems) are used to improve energy efficiency of buildings. In almost all control projects, it is crucial to have building energy models with high computational efficiency in order to design and tune the controllers and simulate their performance. In this paper, a set of partial differential equations are formulated accounting for energy flow within the building space. These equations are then solved as conventional finite difference equations using Crank–Nicholson scheme. Such a model of a higher order is regarded as a benchmark model. An optimization algorithm has been developed, depicted through a flowchart, which minimizes the sum squared error between the step responses of the numerical and the optimal model. Optimal model of the construction element is nothing but a RC-network model with the values of Rs and Cs estimated using the non-linear time invariant constrained optimization routine. The model is validated with comparing the step responses with other two RC-network models whose parameter values are selected based on a certain criteria. Validations are showed for different types of building construction elements viz., low, medium and heavy thermal capacity elements. Simulation results show that the optimal model closely follow the step responses of the numerical model as compared to the responses of other two models.

Low-energy design for future housing developments in Kazakhstan: a case study

There is a distinct lack of building design literature specific to the Central Asian region. This perhaps, could be one of the reasons for insignificant improvements in new building design and construction, even despite huge investment in the construction of new buildings in, for example, Astana, Kazakhstan. The absence of low-energy building design guidelines could lead to adverse internal conditions and skyrocketing energy bills. In the present context, low-energy buildings refer to buildings that are inherently low-energy consuming by careful passive design, by utilizing intelligent building technologies to automate building services, by minimizing wastage of energy, and by incorporating renewable technologies for its energy supply. This paper focuses on the low-energy design of buildings for harsh weather conditions that prevail in Astana, Kazakhstan. The main aspects of low-energy design are critically discussed. A case study for Dostar residential complex in Astana is presented. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is used to demonstrate the effect of important aspects of passive design, such as building orientation, configuration, and envelope on energy efficiency and wind comfort in Dostar residential complex in Astana. The results indicated that there is a considerable influence of low-energy building design on energy efficiency, wind comfort, and safety. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that a multiple buildings configuration (a box-shaped form in this case) rather than a single-standing building should be considered while designing future housing developments in Kazakhstan.

Building Electrical Design and Energy-Saving Measures

At present, building energy consumption is increasingly prominent. Energy conservation and emissions reduction have already become the hot topic in the whole society. It is imperative for electric energy conservation design to "saving energy and decreasing power consumption" . Efficient utilization of building electrical energy saving measures, will promote energy conservation and reasonable utilization, alleviate the contradiction between energy supply and economic development in our country, accelerate the development of circular economy and realize sustainable development in natural society. This article has carried on the research and analysis from the building power supply, distribution system, power system, electric lighting system and intelligent building technology. And some energy-saving measures on building electrical design are put forward.

Intelligent Buildings: Key to Achieving Total Sustainability in the Built Environment

‘Are intelligent buildings a pragmatic approach towards achieving a sustainable built environment?’ is the research question that this review article aims to answer. It has been argued that there is a serious need for intelligent buildings to be evaluated against the parameters of total sustainability (environmental, economic and social) so as to help the agenda of living in a technologically advanced, healthy and comfortable world. This paper reviews existing theoretical concepts of intelligence and sustainability in the built environment, through an exploration of various scientific literature and U.S Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) databases. A systematic qualitative review approach has been employed to select an appropriate definition of sustainable development and use it as a theoretical framework to assess the technological impact of intelligent buildings on the environmental, economic and social front. Subsequently five case study buildings from around the world, which exemplify the use of intelligent technologies to achieve sustainable gains were chosen and analyzed to further validate the literature findings. Outputs from the study highlight the various benefits of intelligent buildings, which include decrease in energy and water consumption, operational costs, as well as increase in productivity and investments. Additionally the analysis of the case studies revealed that the use of intelligent building technologies has contributed significantly towards a higher sustainability rating on the LEED rating scale. Moreover, the comparison of the attributes of intelligent buildings and sustainable practices in buildings, illustrates the fact that there is a considerable overlap between the two and intelligence can aid sustainability in the built environment. Thus the research suggests that green technologies and intelligence in combination may be a pragmatic approach towards the sustainability aspect.

A Survey of Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Microgrids using Networking Technologies

Intelligent buildings and microgrids are important parts of the future smart grid. The adoption and development process of the intelligent buildings has been slow. There are multiple technical and non-technical reasons. However, two recent trends have accelerated the research and application of the technologies related to this area. First, skyrocketing energy price and the global need for reducing fossil oil consumption for environmental sustainability combined with the fact that buildings are a significant source of energy consumption, making buildings intelligent and energy efficient will have huge impacts on the total CO 2 emission and hence global sustainability. Second, rapid popularity and maturation of mobile smart phone technology and Internet technologies like cloud computing enable smart phone holders to be aware of their energy consumption and participate in controlling and running their buildings with seamless Internet connections. Cloud computing enables active interactions between the consumer-side (buildings) and the provider-side (smart grids). Hence, combining energy efficiency and networking perspectives, in this paper, we investigate the key research topics through a broad survey on the latest developments in intelligent buildings and our vision of microgrids formed by such buildings. Our aim is to draw an overall picture of the current research and potential future applications. Moreover, we further summarize and discuss in detail a series of key issues and trends that can potentially motivate and impact the adoption and development of the intelligent building and microgrid technologies in the near future.

CFD Investigation of the Effect of Building Passive Design Strategy on Energy Efficiency and Wind Comfort in Extreme Weather Conditions in Astana, Kazakhstan

There is a distinct lack of building design literature specific to the Central Asian region. This perhaps, could be one of reasons for the only slight improvement of new building designs and construction. One does observe the highly glazed buildings are a particularly popular feature here in Astana, as like anywhere else in the world. However, excessively glazed surfaces combined with the weather extremes leads to adverse internal conditions and skyrocketing energy bills. The work presented in this paper is a part of continuing efforts to identify analyze and promote the design of ‘low energy, green and sustainable buildings with special reference to the Kazakhstan locality. In the present context, low energy buildings’ refers to buildings inherently low energy consuming by careful passive design, utilizing intelligent building technologies to automate building services and minimize wastage of energy and by incorporation of renewable technologies for its energy supply. Demonstration of improved environmental conditions and impact on energy savings will be outlined through a cause study incorporating application of passive design approach and detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for an existing building complex. The results indicated that there is a considerable influence of passive design and orientation on energy efficiency, wind comfort and safety.

Cyber security for intelligent buildings

This article examines the evolution of intelligent building technologies and outlines the challenges that building owners, operators and managers face when securing their facilities. It draws on findings from an industry survey conducted in August 2015 by the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), with more than 500 respondents involved in IT management, operations, facility management, security and compliance. This article provides a definition of intelligent buildings, examines the evolution of smart building technologies, describes the emerging cyber security risks in intelligent buildings and provides an overview of CABA survey results. The survey itself provides a synopsis of cyber security trends, a brief survey of cyber security risks, an analysis of the cyber security market through a number of other industry surveys and examines how cyber security solutions should be adopted. The survey also provides a series of short-, mid- and long-term recommendations concerning the creation of an actionable industry roadmap.

INTELLIGENT ARCHITECTURE: THE WAY TO DESIGN INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS

With the enhancement of Informational Revolution, the transformations in our lifestyle demand the space around us to have interaction modalities that support new as well as old communicating ways. Therefore, it becomes a challenge for the designers to blend the informational space with the physical space through technology inspired architecture, which helps to incorporate the design application in the digital as well as real world context. Intelligent Architecture is a new design process that perceives and interacts with the built environment by applying recent advances and implementing new technologies to architectural practice. The concept of Intelligent Architecture started as an interest in the latest integrated building systems and technologies which can communicate and exchange information. The paper is based on the conceptual research done to give the overview of Intelligent Architecture in general, its application in the world of information system with all of its multi-dimensional viewpoints and explore the criteria determining intelligent building technologies. The focus of the paper is to gain an insight phenomenon of Intelligent Architecture and its responsiveness to fulfill the demands of human needs and to understand the technologies through which Intelligent Building systems can be achieved. The selection criteria of case studies are based on the advance technologies which are used to promote the idea of Intelligent Architecture. Keywords: Informational Revolution, Intelligent Architecture, Intelligent Building, Built Environment

Some socio-technical aspects of intelligent buildings and pervasive computing research

You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and…every movement scrutinized. (George Orwell, 1984) Recent reports from the European Parliament Technology Assessment unit and the UK Information Commissioner's Office have highlighted the need for debate on how society should balance the convenience that new technology affords with the need to preserve privacy. To date, most of the debate has addressed the more visible aspects of technology and privacy such as surveillance cameras, identity/loyalty cards, internet search engines and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. In this article we seek to use our experience as computer scientists to advance this debate by considering issues arising from our research related to intelligent buildings and environments, such as the deployment of autonomous intelligent agents. Intelligent buildings and environments are based on the use of numerous ‘invisible’, omnipresent, always-on, communicating computers embedded in everyday artefacts and environments. While most current intelligent building technology is based around automated reactive systems, research is under way that uses technology to gather personal information from people and use this information to deliver personalized services to them. While promising great benefits, this technology, by being invisible and autonomous, raises significant new dangers for individuals and society as a whole. Perhaps the most significant issue is privacy—an individual's right to control the collection and use of personal information. Rather than focusing on the ‘here and now’, this article looks forward to where this research could lead, exploring the issues it might involve. It does this by presenting descriptions of current work, interleaved with a set of short vignettes that are intended to provoke thought so that developers and the population at large might consider the personal and regulatory needs involved. We end this article by offering a conceptual framework for situating multidisciplinary socio-technical research in intelligent buildings.

The vision of integrated IP‐based building systems

PurposeThis paper aims to share the vision of integrated building systems based on internet protocol (IP) based on the presentations and facilitated discussions at the BuilConn: Cisco's Connected Real Estate Roundtable in Spring 2006.Design/methodology/approachBased on the observation of the BuilConn Conference Roundtable and related literature, this paper lays out requirements to support IP‐ and computer‐based integration of building systems.FindingsThe authors detail the value proposition, challenges, and related engineering and business transformations of integrated building systems. While cost savings, new advanced services, and flexibility in building operations are the major benefits, the main challenges are the missing awareness and knowledge in the building industry, the educational gap among real estate professionals and owners, the implementation of appropriate security, the use of intelligent building technology, performance and cost saving issues, specific problems for building renovation projects, and the realization of reliable critical building operations. Furthermore, the balance between IP and non‐IP devices, benefits of the IP itself, and the need for more elaborate standards were discussed at the Roundtable. The Roundtable participants identified the following critical transformations within the building project environment to make integrated IP‐based building systems a reality: more flexible design, construction, and facility management contracts, earlier involvement of integration experts, and more flexibility in today's design process.Practical implicationsThe participants felt that only when these transformations are accomplished and the mentioned challenges resolved will companies be able to take full advantage of the benefits and realize the vision of integrated IP‐based building systems.Originality/valueThis paper summarizes the presentations and facilitated discussions at the Roundtable, which have, so far, only been accessible to the roundtable participants, and provides a reflecting point of view of participants from the building industry, building owners, and academic representatives on strategic and operational issues around IP‐based building systems.

Optimization of HVAC Control System Strategy Using Two-Objective Genetic Algorithm

Intelligent building technology for building operation, called the optimization process, is developed and validated in this paper. The optimization process using a multi-objective genetic algorithm will permit the optimal operation of the building's mechanical systems when installed in parallel with a building's central control system. Using this proposed optimization process, the supervisory control strategy setpoints, such as supply air temperature, supply duct static pressure, chilled water supply temperature, minimum outdoor ventilation, reheat (or zone supply air temperature), and zone air temperatures are optimized with respect to energy use and thermal comfort. HVAC system steady-state models developed and validated against the monitored data of the existing VAV system are used for energy use and thermal comfort calculations. The proposed optimization process is validated on an existing VAV system for two summer months. Many control strategies applied in a multi-zone HVAC system are also tested and evaluated for one summer day.

Sensors in Intelligent Buildings

We've all heard of `sick-building' syndrome and the misery this can inflict in the workplace in terms of poor health and lost production. The notion of the Intelligent Building is the modern civil engineer's Big Idea in tackling these and other such deficiencies. The intelligent building can adapt itself to maintain an optimized environment. This ability relies on sensors as a front-line technology - the subject of this volume. Gassmann and Meixner tackle the subject matter by using five categories of intelligent building technology: energy and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), information and transportation, safety and security, maintenance, and facility management. These categories of home and building technology are intended to encompass domestic as well as workplace and public environments, but as the introduction states, the breakthrough into the domestic market is not quite here yet. They have targeted, successfully in this reviewer's opinion, the researcher and designer in the field who has his or her own specific interest in sensor issues. Each section of the book contains a number of articles contributed from predominantly European, particularly German and Swiss, research institutions. They cover subjects as diverse as inflatable buildings and a combination of a sensing chair and sensing floor that allows the exact interaction of a human user with his/her immediate surroundings to be integrated within an information system. A fascinating item on biometric access security systems brings to life the `spy-thriller' world of automatic iris and fingerprint scanners as a means of secure access to key-less buildings. The discussion extends to threats to such systems whereby `replay' attacks, for example presenting a face recognition system with a photograph of an individual, reveal the necessary further steps if the technology is to be considered safe. Inevitably though, it is the massive strides in communications and processing technology that are visible in the contributions to this volume that point to where most of the advances will come. The massive interconnection issue of numerous sensors, the `nervous system' of the building is approached in items covering the complexities of fieldbus systems and the use of `wireless' in-building networks. This well presented volume with good quality illustration ends in an investigation of system technologies for the automated home of the near future. Presence-controlled heating and air-conditioning, telemonitoring of the sick or elderly, gas and fire detection and of course a high data rate communication backbone to link everything: all these could feature in the future household. We shall see. Peter Foote

Decision support to the application of intelligent building technologies

Although considered a current highlight, the concept of intelligent buildings (IB) has not been adopted as quickly and widely as expected. One of the reasons for this is the lack of information and knowledge support to all professionals involved at the design stage of a project. This paper provides a brief overview on the new advances of IB technologies and discusses ways of supplementing the decision making process by adopting two methods for economical and technical aspects of IB applications. It goes on to introduce an on-going research which aims to utilise knowledge based systems to provide comprehensive evaluations to alternatives and decision support to retrofit building projects, when they are being conceptualised.

BACnet TM: a standard communication infrastructure for intelligent buildings

Intelligent buildings require integration of a variety of computer-based building automation and control system products that are usually made by different manufacturers. The exchange of information among these devices is critical to the successful operation of the building systems. Proprietary approaches to providing this communication have created great challenges for system integrators and hampered the development of intelligent building technology. Even though digital automation and control technology has been widely available for more than a decade and islands of automation are common, intelligent buildings with integrated building services are still more of a promise than a reality. BACnet TM 1 1 BACnet is a registered trademark of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. is a standard communication protocol for building automation and control networks developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE, Standard 135–1995: BACnet TM—A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers. Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1995). BACnet TM provides the communication infrastructure needed to integrate products made by different vendors and to integrate building services that are now independent. This paper describes the main features of the BACnet TM protocol and early experience implementing it.

Intelligent building technologies: a case of Japanese buildings

Recent developments in building technologies in the USA, Europe and Japan reflect the trend towards more intelligent and energy-efficient buildings. A variety of building products with automatic features are being developed, and electronic building systems and computerized building components are being manufactured. Virtually all buildings being built today are equipped with some degree of advanced technologies: for example, electronic control devices and communication systems, automated building facilities, and office automation facilities. This paper outlines the current status of intelligent building technologies. Key features are presented, and the architectural issues associated with the incorporation of the new technologies are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to examining technological advances in daylighting, electric lighting, and HVAC systems. Although these technologies are being incorporated in intelligent buildings throughout the world, specific examples in Japanese buildings are presented to illustrate their implementation in building design.