Multi-criteria energy and daylighting optimization for an office with fixed and moveable shading devices

This paper presents an optimization approach to design an external fixed shading device protecting an energy efficient office from high sun loads. The developed methodology takes into account heating, cooling and energy required for lighting appliances, along with the interaction with an internal moveable venetian blind for direct sunlight protection. The optimization process considers whole-year simulations performed with different software codes, specifically ESP-r for energy calculation and DAYSIM\uae for daylighting analysis, while the modeFRONTIER\uae tool synchronizes the simulations and drives the optimization for searching optimal solutions. The fixed shading device is a flat panel positioned parallel to the window and inclined by its horizontal axis and the optimization variables change the size, inclination and position of the device with respect to the building fa\ue7ade. Two exposures are considered, south and south-west, and the optimized results are reported as a Pareto front highlighting the performance of different solutions, comparing the energy and daylighting performance of the offic

FAST energy and daylight optimization of an office with fixed and movable shading devices

This paper describes the Energy and Daylighting optimization of a fixed inclined panel which shades an office room with a south exposed window. The window features also user deployable internal Venetian blinds. Energy analysis takes into account the primary energy required for heating, cooling and artificial lights. Different numerical codes have been employed in order to perform the simulations required by the optimization process: Daysim estimates the artificial light consumption based on daylighting distribution, ESP-r computes heating and cooling loads and modeFRONTIER integrates the simulation codes in an automatic optimization loop. The performance of an algorithm specifically designed to deal with problems involving long simulation times (combining response surfaces and genetic algorithms) has been successfully evaluated; the algorithm has then been applied in the optimization loop. The optimized solutions are analysed in this paper, in particular three solutions have been selected: minimum primary energy consumption, minimum hours of blind deployed and an intermediate solution. The analysis compares the primary energy consumption and daylighting performance on the basis of the Useful Daylight Illuminance indicator and the time history of illuminance on predefined locations

Experimental and Numerical Comparison of Internal Insulation Systems for Building Refurbishment

AbstractIn order to increase the knowledge of both local builders and designers about the energy efficiency of internal insulation a test chamber has been realized at the Edilmaster site. The test system features two isothermal chambers separated by the specimen under test. The controlled temperatures guarantee a constant temperature difference in order to measure the heat flux with thermofluximeter techniques. In this paper the uninsulated system is a brick wall of about 50cm thickness which represents a typical solution found in Trieste. Two internal insulation systems, with wooden and metallic studs, have been tested. The measurements highlighted the different thermal behavior between the area covered by the insulation material and the thermal bridges due to studs. The experimental results have been compared with solutions obtained with numerical and analytical methods

Climate Change and Building Renovation: Effects on Energy Consumption and Internal Comfort in a Social Housing Building in Northern Italy

Climate change is becoming a crucial factor to consider within human activities and the building sector is particularly influenced by aspects of internal comfort and energy. In Italy, great attention has been paid to the energy refurbishment of buildings. However, such interventions are mostly focused on reducing heating energy consumption, thus neglecting summer season performance. Moreover, climate change is barely considered during the design phase. This issue is addressed in this work which analyzes some of the most common refurbishment interventions applied to a social housing building in Trieste, while also considering internal comfort during the summer season. A dynamic analysis of the building-plant system is carried out using EnergyPlus. Fanger, UTCI and the adaptive comfort models were used to represent internal health, while three TRY data sets were generated using two GCM–RCM projections to evaluate the influence of climate change. The results show that both building insulation and climatic change affect heating consumption reaching a 70% reduction. However, building insulation does not greatly affect internal comfort, although different models show different behavior to protect against external temperatures. On the contrary, climatic change influences the percentage of hours of discomfort, with a 20% increase for all of the models. The final consideration is that people’s internal health should always be considered when carrying out refurbishment activities

Model development and validation for a tank in tank water thermal storage for domestic application

5noThe hot water tanks are the typical thermal storage systems in Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) plants. In this paper a new model for ESP-r has been developed, in order to simulate a tank in tank heat storage. The tank in tank system is made up of two tanks in which the smaller, storing potable hot water, is contained in a larger buffer filled with heating-circuit water. The developed model is an enhanced version of a component already available in ESP-r. Experimental results are used to identify some parameters and to perform the validation of the developed code.openopenPadovan, Roberta; Manzan, Marco; Zandegiacomo De Zorzi, Ezio ; Gullì, Giuseppe; Frazzica, AndreaPadovan, Roberta; Manzan, Marco; ZANDEGIACOMO DE ZORZI, Ezio; Gullì, Giuseppe; Frazzica, Andre

Experimental testing of a hybrid sensible-latent heat storage system for domestic hot water applications

Aim of this work is to present the results of the testing of a small scale hybrid sensible/latent storage system (nominal volume 48.6 dm3), consisting of water in which macro-encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) are added. Two different PCMs were macro-encapsulated, a commercial paraffin and a hydrate salts mixture prepared in the CNR ITAE lab, and loaded inside the tank in order to be tested. Different volume ratios between the PCM and the water were tested. The tests were conducted simulating different domestic hot water draw-off profiles. The resulting data showed an appreciable increase of heat storage capacity per unit of volume, even for limited fractions of PCM employed, reaching up to 10% of heat storage increasing by 1.3 dm3 of hydrate salts mixture added. Finally, the experimental results were used to test a numerical method of a PCM enhanced tank for dynamic plant simulations in ESP-r environment

Implementazione di un applicativo su piattaforma open source QGIS per l'analisi delle caratteristiche energetiche degli edifici del Friuli Venezia Giulia

Il progetto ha riguardato la creazione di un database geo-referenziato e di un applicativo su piattaforma GIS (Geographic Information System), utilizzando il software open-source Quantum GIS, finalizzati all’analisi ed alla visualizzazione di alcuni parametri strategici per il consumo e la produzione di energia sul territorio regionale. Lo studio, sviluppato durante un’esperienza di tirocinio svolta presso Insiel SpA con la collaborazione ed il supporto dell’Ufficio che si occupa del Servizio Energia, è nato dall’idea di implementare i valori contenuti nell’analisi del PER (Piano Energetico Regionale) con uno studio dei dati depositati all’interno del catasto APE (Attestati di Prestazione Energetica). Specificatamente sono stati individuati i parametri fondamentali che descrivono l’utilizzo dell’energia sul territorio regionale e che sono presenti nell’APE. Successivamente essi sono stati geo-referenziati e sono state individuate le correlazioni spaziali al fine di evidenziare lo stato di fatto dal punto di vista della prestazione energetica degli edifici, dotati di APE, nella Regione FVG

Potential of thermal storage for hot potable water distribution in cruise ships

Hot potable water preparation in ships requires lots of energy from the power plant; this is particularly true in modern cruise ships with a high demand of potable water for people, restaurants, spa and pools. Usually the required amount of hot water is instantly produced using a number of different energy sources available on board. However, the use of direct heaters on peak demand conditions increases fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This is especially important in the case of ship in port configuration, due to the reduced number of active engines and therefore the reduced amount of waste heat from the cooling line usually employed for this task. This paper investigates possible solutions to size a hot water thermal storage in order to compensate the mismatch between heat generation during cruise and heat required during ship in port configuration. The performances of different solutions are compared using dynamic thermal simulations of the ship’s hot water distribution system with different regimes and time dependent heat requirements. Moreover it will be introduced the use of PCM materials with the aim to further improve system’s performance