Thermal and Lighting Consumption Savings in Classrooms Retrofitted with Shading Devices in a Hot Climate

Most educational buildings in southern Spain do not meet current energy requirements as weak thermal envelopes and the lack of cooling systems lead to severe discomfort in classrooms, especially when temperatures are above 30 °C. Given that global warming is expected to worsen this situation in coming decades, one of the first steps to be taken is to protect window openings from high levels of solar radiation by adding shading devices to reduce indoor temperatures and improve visual comfort. The aim of this research is to evaluate the reduction in thermal and lighting consumption in a classroom where a solar protection system in the form of an egg-crate shading device was installed. Two classrooms—one with an egg-crate device and another with no shading system—were monitored and compared for a whole year. The use of an egg-crate device in these classrooms reduced indoor operative temperatures during warmer periods while also improving indoor natural illuminance levels. Moreover, annual electric air conditioning consumption decreased by approximately 20%, with a 50% reduction in electric lighting consumption. These savings in electricity were largely conditioned by the use patterns observed in these ambient systems.Spanish government BIA2014-53949-RMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spanish GovernmentEuropean Regional Development Fun

Optimal learning spaces: design implications for primary schools

Review guide of the design evidence for primary school

Addition to Kaven Hall - Performance-Based Design Using Energy Simulation Tools

In this project, a high-performance building design for the Addition to Kaven Hall is proposed to address the space needs of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at WPI. The addition is a multi-use academic building with three floor levels and one mezzanine level. It offers dedicated studio space, building science labs, classrooms and offices. Studies of solar radiation, daylighting conditions and energy consumptions were conducted to optimize the building’s performance, including visual and thermal comfort and energy usage. Parametric studies of the energy performance were conducted in the DesignBuilder software to optimize the building envelope systems. The final design incorporates a double skin facade and utilizes mechanical and natural ventilation

CFD assessments within strongly transient domains

Assessments based on CFD snapshots of stable conditions within strongly transient domains do not address many aspects of performance associated with occupant interventions, control actions or changing climate. Such domains (e.g. double skin façades) are characterised by transient flow patterns due to changing weather patterns, actuation of dampers intermittent opening of façade windows and operation of building environmental systems. Importing boundary conditionsfrom whole building simulation is an improvement but it discounts the impact of the flow predictions on the building domain. A transient approach is suggested which is fully coupled to flow and thermal solvers for the building fabric, environmental control systems and air flow regime. The paper reviews a number of patterns of flow evolution in strongly transient domains in response to changes in ambient conditions, damper actuation, façade openings and intermittent flow from mechanical ventilation systems

Optimization of Natural Ventilation Design in Hot and Humid Climates Using Building Energy Simulation

This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended.This research aims to propose and explore natural ventilation schemes for the design of high-performance, non-residential buildings in hot and humid climates. Three such schemes were applied toward retrofitting the existing Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics buildings on University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) campus in Honolulu. The results were investigated by using parametric study and Airflow Network (AN) model, coupled with thermal model in EnergyPlus. Meanwhile, the number of discomfort hours, during the time the buildings are occupied and based on the adaptive thermal comfort, was used as a quantitative index for the performance of the natural ventilation design schemes. The results revealed that pure cross-ventilation is not a feasible mode to deliver adequate thermal comfort to the occupants, per an acceptable number of discomfort hours. However, with the supplementation of vertical ventilation ducts (shafts), the performance of natural ventilation design schemes significantly improved. In these cases, it was found that either ventilation ducts or ventilation windows can be completely closed, thus eliminating the need of one or the other in natural ventilation designs and therefore mitigating the potential for outdoor noise traveling into spaces through ventilation ducts and/or ventilation windows’ openings. This research presents my preliminary investigation toward finding the optimal scheme for natural ventilation design. After the scheme is chosen, the actual geometry of the ventilation ducts and ventilation windows, appropriate louvers and duct fittings, as well as their optimal aspect ratios, should be taken into consideration. For future research to be able to extend to incorporate a wider range of climate conditions, a hybrid ventilation approach integrating both mechanical and natural ventilation should be carried out. Moreover, further study of ventilation effectiveness, as per Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), is also recommended

The Bubble Box: Towards an Automated Visual Sensor for 3D Analysis and Characterization of Marine Gas Release Sites

Several acoustic and optical techniques have been used for characterizing natural and anthropogenic gas leaks (carbon dioxide, methane) from the ocean floor. Here, single-camera based methods for bubble stream observation have become an important tool, as they help estimating flux and bubble sizes under certain assumptions. However, they record only a projection of a bubble into the camera and therefore cannot capture the full 3D shape, which is particularly important for larger, non-spherical bubbles. The unknown distance of the bubble to the camera (making it appear larger or smaller than expected) as well as refraction at the camera interface introduce extra uncertainties. In this article, we introduce our wide baseline stereo-camera deep-sea sensor bubble box that overcomes these limitations, as it observes bubbles from two orthogonal directions using calibrated cameras. Besides the setup and the hardware of the system, we discuss appropriate calibration and the different automated processing steps deblurring, detection, tracking, and 3D fitting that are crucial to arrive at a 3D ellipsoidal shape and rise speed of each bubble. The obtained values for single bubbles can be aggregated into statistical bubble size distributions or fluxes for extrapolation based on diffusion and dissolution models and large scale acoustic surveys. We demonstrate and evaluate the wide baseline stereo measurement model using a controlled test setup with ground truth information

Sensor node localisation using a stereo camera rig

In this paper, we use stereo vision processing techniques to detect and localise sensors used for monitoring simulated environmental events within an experimental sensor network testbed. Our sensor nodes communicate to the camera through patterns emitted by light emitting diodes (LEDs). Ultimately, we envisage the use of very low-cost, low-power, compact microcontroller-based sensing nodes that employ LED communication rather than power hungry RF to transmit data that is gathered via existing CCTV infrastructure. To facilitate our research, we have constructed a controlled environment where nodes and cameras can be deployed and potentially hazardous chemical or physical plumes can be introduced to simulate environmental pollution events in a controlled manner. In this paper we show how 3D spatial localisation of sensors becomes a straightforward task when a stereo camera rig is used rather than a more usual 2D CCTV camera

Learning Deep NBNN Representations for Robust Place Categorization

This paper presents an approach for semantic place categorization using data obtained from RGB cameras. Previous studies on visual place recognition and classification have shown that, by considering features derived from pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in combination with part-based classification models, high recognition accuracy can be achieved, even in presence of occlusions and severe viewpoint changes. Inspired by these works, we propose to exploit local deep representations, representing images as set of regions applying a Na\"{i}ve Bayes Nearest Neighbor (NBNN) model for image classification. As opposed to previous methods where CNNs are merely used as feature extractors, our approach seamlessly integrates the NBNN model into a fully-convolutional neural network. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms previous methods based on pre-trained CNN models and that, when employed in challenging robot place recognition tasks, it is robust to occlusions, environmental and sensor changes