Ray Powell B4 – Term Project

Theoretical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are rapidly advancing due to new sensor improvements, but traditional systems are just starting to apply this technology and strive for better systems. With improvements in sensors, and their applicability in the built environment, dramatic improvements can be used to make the systems more efficient and save energy in the long term. Current HVAC systems are often underutilized because systems are uninformed throughout most of the process, with minimal sensors placed only in critical locations. Until recently, wireless, networked sensors have been too expensive for regular use, but as technology improves, they will become cheap and routine throughout buildings as tools of managing the facility.

Energy attributed to HVAC systems is a major part of building usage, which accounts for much of the global total. Making systems more intelligent and connected with the occupants will lead to significant changes in building energy usage by utilizing it more effectively. Now, sensors commonly are used to check temperature and humidity typically a few times throughout an air cycle, with much of the air being wasted to unused space. Increasing the number of information points can offer information that essentially describes the entire air cycle. With this information, changes can be made on the fly for the system to maximize its efficiency. This addition will allow more accurately conditioned air, and the correct amount, to the spaces as needed. Researching this topic will allow me to show how current improvements in sensor technology benefit traditional HVAC systems and additional technology that can be applied.

There are many ways that sensors can help develop the industry and improve systems with the information they provide. Concurrently, BIM is rapidly developing as an informational tool for simulations and analysis, instead of strictly modeling software. Doing this requires accurate data for informed decision making. Much of this data can easily be collected and distributed by sensors to databases and BIM software to maximize how the system is used. Preprogramed conditions can be set by database information for sensors at critical points throughout the system to automatically adjust to the information that the sensors and database determine is ideal. This information can be collected in BIM software to be modeled information for any modifications or studies. Due to the wide variety of systems used today, it will be difficult to identify and compare current system improvements with the improvements that sensors can offer.

Sources:

I-Hai Lin, P., and H.L. Broberg. 2002. “Internet-Based Monitoring and Controls for HVAC Applications.” IEEE Industry Applications Magazine 8 (1): 49–54. doi:10.1109/2943.974358.

Leavey, Anna, Yong Fu, Mo Sha, Andrew Kutta, Chenyang Lu, Weining Wang, Bill Drake, Yixin Chen, and Pratim Biswas. 2015. “Air Quality Metrics and Wireless Technology to Maximize the Energy Efficiency of HVAC in a Working Auditorium.” Building and Environment 85 (February): 287–97. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.11.039.

Lu, Jiakang, Tamim Sookoor, Vijay Srinivasan, Ge Gao, Brian Holben, John Stankovic, Eric Field, and Kamin Whitehouse. 2010. “The Smart Thermostat: Using Occupancy Sensors to Save Energy in Homes.” In , 211–24. ACM. doi:10.1145/1869983.1870005.

 “Smart HVAC & Sensor Technology for Smart Buildings.” 2016. Arista. November 17. http://aristair.com/blog/smart-hvac-sensor-technology-for-smart-buildings/.

“The Core of Johnson Controls.” n.d.

Comments:

Kerianne’s topic shows a very interesting component of intelligent buildings by focusing on the information components of Building Information Modeling (BIM). The way programs like Revit organizes the information of families and building components benefits the construction industry greatly by accurately managing the information and providing it to the contractors.  This utility within the software has made it a revolutionary part of building design and often benefits designers’ projects. The models produced with this information directly relate to the intelligent building industry by showing how the building and its systems interact with each other.  Utilizing the software for additional analytical simulations, like hourly energy analysis or finite element analysis greatly benefits the design process by allowing designers and owners to make informed decisions.  These decisions often have cost conscious solutions, which quickly pays for training designers how to utilize the software.  BIM is changing the way construction documents are created and digital modeling will become a major part of the design process. The software has many capabilities and I believe that learning all of them is impossible, though it is very intuitive and easy to learn. It sounds like much of the information you plan to cover can be addressed with construction document schedules, but requires in-depth research.

Joe and his team have selected a very involved topic addressing how robotics can help to survey sites.  Oftentimes there are many assumptions made about the site, leaving construction managers to verify many of the conditions and adjust much of the construction to fit to terrain around it.  Surveying a site can take countless hours with much room for variation as survey areas become large. Though the technology already exists, there are many improvements available to fully utilize surveying robotics.  Today, typically due to expense, these types of robots are used only for large projects, where the building’s interaction with the ground is critical.  Using the recent development of infrared and ultrasonic sensors should benefit much of the data collection process. Also, with the recent increase in the use of BIM, three-dimensional modeling of this information will be needed much more often.  Big-data is a major part in constructing the information needed for BIM and intelligent buildings.  Accurately scanning the terrain and implementing the information into the model requires many aspects of intelligent technology and greatly benefits how these buildings are constructed.  Integrating all of this information into one model can greatly reduce questions during the construction process, speeding up construction time and reducing much of the errors.  Though this could lead to job losses in the surveying industry, these robots will need people to create and operate them, creating jobs elsewhere in a very expansive field.  There are many challenges associated robotics technology, but the field is advancing quickly and should be becoming easier to create.

Ronald’s post presents a topic of comparing Revit and Bentley Architecture software to study how the programs work together.  To do this, the team will create a model, essentially from scratch, in Revit and follow how this information is transformed to the Bentley software and then compare the end product with the original Revit model.  Noting these differences will help to understand the software’s capabilities and limitations and help to better determine the information that can be transferred between the models. With this information, it can be determined which software should be used from the beginning to insure that export issues are avoided.  It is likely that with the development of the two products, some designers will prefer some software to others, forcing large firms to offer both products.  With the use of both products, there is surely some time where the two will need to communicate with each other well, so knowing what to look for through these exports can be important. An interesting addition to the project would to be operating the other way around, exporting from Bentley to Revit, and comparing how these differences vary from the original transfer, Revit to Bentley.