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Smart Building: Decision Making Architecture for Thermal Energy Management
Oscar Hernández Uribe1, Juan Pablo San Martin2, María C Garcia-Alegre3
1Advanced Technology Centre (CIATEQ, A.C.), Av. del Retablo 150 Col. Constituyentes Fovissste Querétaro, Qro. 76150, Mexico. oscar.hernandez@ciateq.mx.
Smart building technology using the Internet of Things (IoT) optimizes thermal energy in near Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB). This system reduces heating and cooling demand through intelligent control of dynamic thermal barriers, enhancing sustainability and comfort.
Area of Science:
- Building Science and Engineering
- Sustainable Energy Systems
- Internet of Things (IoT) Applications
Background:
- Smart building technologies are crucial for improving building performance and reducing energy consumption.
- Optimization strategies leverage local networks, soft computing, machine intelligence, and sensors for environmental sustainability and user comfort.
- Effective thermal energy management is key to achieving near Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB).
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a distributed sensor-processor-communication decision-making architecture for enhanced thermal energy management in buildings.
- To implement and evaluate an intelligent control system for a dynamic thermal barrier in an nZEB prototype.
- To reduce the thermal energy demand for heating and cooling by intelligently managing building envelopes against weather variations.
Main Methods:
- Development of a distributed architecture for thermal energy acquisition, storage, and transfer.
- Implementation in a near Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) prototype featuring a solar collector, segmented geothermal system, and dynamic thermal barrier.
- Application of intelligent control to the dynamic thermal barrier to mitigate weather-induced thermal loads.
Main Results:
- Demonstration of reduced thermal energy demand (heating and cooling) in the nZEB prototype.
- Validation of the system's effectiveness through both simulations and experimental data.
- Highlighting significant thermal energy reduction attributable to the intelligent control of the dynamic thermal barrier.
Conclusions:
- The proposed distributed architecture and intelligent control system effectively optimize thermal energy management in nZEB.
- Smart applications of IoT, coupled with advanced control strategies, significantly reduce building energy demand.
- The developed system contributes to enhanced environmental sustainability and user comfort in intelligent buildings.
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