Optimal control of fan coil battery air and water flow rates requiring minimal on-line measurements

Abstract Fan coil units are widely used in air-conditioning systems for heating and cooling of commercial buildings. Control - capable of achieving better operational efficiencies and at the same time, guarantying thermal comfort - is paramount in order to achieve optimal operation. The present paper presents a novel generalised control strategy, requiring only minimal input data, for optimising fan speed in order to reduce. Different control models are implemented to predict fan coil capacities and associated total power consumption. The developed strategy has been compared to fixed speed and benchmark fan speed control strategies, using both a steady state and a quasi-steady state algorithm, for various building loads. Results show average reduction in fan coil battery power consumption of 34% and 43% in heating and cooling mode respectively, when the optimal control is compared to fixed fan speed settings. Savings between 4.9% and 9.1% can be achieved by the control algorithms if compared to the benchmark fan speed control strategies

New methods, techniques and applications for sketch recognition

2012-2013The use of diagrams is common in various disciplines. Typical examples include maps, line graphs, bar charts, engineering blueprints, architects’ sketches, hand drawn schematics, etc.. In general, diagrams can be created either by using pen and paper, or by using specific computer programs. These programs provide functions to facilitate the creation of the diagram, such as copy-and-paste, but the classic WIMP interfaces they use are unnatural when compared to pen and paper. Indeed, it is not rare that a designer prefers to use pen and paper at the beginning of the design, and then transfer the diagram to the computer later. To avoid this double step, a solution is to allow users to sketch directly on the computer. This requires both specific hardware and sketch recognition based software. As regards hardware, many pen/touch based devices such as tablets, smartphones, interactive boards and tables, etc. are available today, also at reasonable costs. Sketch recognition is needed when the sketch must be processed and not considered as a simple image and it is crucial to the success of this new modality of interaction. It is a difficult problem due to the inherent imprecision and ambiguity of a freehand drawing and to the many domains of applications. The aim of this thesis is to propose new methods and applications regarding the sketch recognition. The presentation of the results is divided into several contributions, facing problems such as corner detection, sketched symbol recognition and autocompletion, graphical context detection, sketched Euler diagram interpretation. The first contribution regards the problem of detecting the corners present in a stroke. Corner detection is often performed during preprocessing to segment a stroke in single simple geometric primitives such as lines or curves. The corner recognizer proposed in this thesis, RankFrag, is inspired by the method proposed by Ouyang and Davis in 2011 and improves the accuracy percentages compared to other methods recently proposed in the literature. The second contribution is a new method to recognize multi-stroke hand drawn symbols, which is invariant with respect to scaling and supports symbol recognition independently from the number and order of strokes. The method is an adaptation of the algorithm proposed by Belongie et al. in 2002 to the case of sketched images. This is achieved by using stroke related information. The method has been evaluated on a set of more than 100 symbols from the Military Course of Action domain and the results show that the new recognizer outperforms the original one. The third contribution is a new method for recognizing multi-stroke partially hand drawn symbols which is invariant with respect to scale, and supports symbol recognition independently from the number and order of strokes. The recognition technique is based on subgraph isomorphism and exploits a novel spatial descriptor, based on polar histograms, to represent relations between two stroke primitives. The tests show that the approach gives a satisfactory recognition rate with partially drawn symbols, also with a very low level of drawing completion, and outperforms the existing approaches proposed in the literature. Furthermore, as an application, a system presenting a user interface to draw symbols and implementing the proposed autocompletion approach has been developed. Moreover a user study aimed at evaluating the human performance in hand drawn symbol autocompletion has been presented. Using the set of symbols from the Military Course of Action domain, the user study evaluates the conditions under which the users are willing to exploit the autocompletion functionality and those under which they can use it efficiently. The results show that the autocompletion functionality can be used in a profitable way, with a drawing time saving of about 18%. The fourth contribution regards the detection of the graphical context of hand drawn symbols, and in particular, the development of an approach for identifying attachment areas on sketched symbols. In the field of syntactic recognition of hand drawn visual languages, the recognition of the relations among graphical symbols is one of the first important tasks to be accomplished and is usually reduced to recognize the attachment areas of each symbol and the relations among them. The approach is independent from the method used to recognize symbols and assumes that the symbol has already been recognized. The approach is evaluated through a user study aimed at comparing the attachment areas detected by the system to those devised by the users. The results show that the system can identify attachment areas with a reasonable accuracy. The last contribution is EulerSketch, an interactive system for the sketching and interpretation of Euler diagrams (EDs). The interpretation of a hand drawn ED produces two types of text encodings of the ED topology called static code and ordered Gauss paragraph (OGP) code, and a further encoding of its regions. Given the topology of an ED expressed through static or OGP code, EulerSketch automatically generates a new topologically equivalent ED in its graphical representation. [edited by author]XII n.s

A multidisciplinary microcredential basket for the sustainable transition in cities | Deliverable D2.3

RES4CITY is committed to cultivating a skilled workforce by promoting sustainability and circularity in the field of renewable energy and fuel technologies, specifically in urban contexts. This mission is achieved through a pioneering educational initiative developed in collaboration with stakeholders. This forward-thinking educational program serves as a platform for individuals to develop specialized skills and knowledge, aligning with the European Union's overarching goal of enhancing digital literacy and lifelong learning, in line with the Bologna process. Amidst the evolution of Europe's educational structure, micro-credentials are gaining traction as a student-centred approach to lifelong learning. Generally, micro-credentials are short, focused, and specialized educational programs that provide learners with the opportunity to acquire and demonstrate specific skills and knowledge that are in demand in the workforce. The main pillars of the European approach to micro-credentials can be summarised as follows: • Micro-credentials must be measurable, comparable, and understandable learning units, with clear learning outcomes, workload, content, level and learning offer. • They must be modular to allow the possibility of stacking, validating and recognising their learning outcomes across different systems. • Their design must be carried out with a meet-the-needs approach. • Micro-credentials are owned by the learner and may be stored and shared safely through secure digital wallets. Starting from its alignment with the ongoing transformation of the European educational framework under the Bologna process, RES4CITY's educational programs primarily focus on renewable energy and sustainable fuel technologies, with a specific emphasis on creating strategies tailored to urban settings. RES4CITY has assembled a curated selection of diverse multidisciplinary micro-credentials, co-designed with relevant stakeholders. This collection forms the basis of an MCs basket designed to cater to a broad spectrum of learners, including students and professionals, regardless of their STEM or non-STEM background. The main features of RES4CITY approach to micro-credentials are summarised as follows: Target audience: RES4CITY educational programmes targets two types of audience: • Students enrolled in accredited university courses at EQF (European Qualification Framework) 6-7-8, corresponding to a Bachelor, Master and PhD courses, in both STEM and NON-STEM disciplines (section 2.2) • Young professionals working both in energy and non-energy related areas with both STEM and NON-STEM background. Need assessment and competence definition: RES4CITY implemented a co-design process by leveraging on the Innovation and Stakeholder network. The identified educational needs were translated into specific learning units which forms the MCs. A hierarchical framework for categorizing educational goals based on the Bloom’s taxonomy was used to guide the development of learning objectives and to ensure that the learning objectives span across different levels to promote a comprehensive understanding and application of the subject. Micro-credential learning units: each MC in the RES4CITY basket was sized according to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), adopted by the EHEA, to support the transparency and stackability of the obtained credentials. A size of 2.5 ECTS for each MCs was selected since it allows (i) to correctly define the learning outcomes of each MC, (ii) to ensure a successful delivery of the MC content, (iii) to organise each MC in week-based subunits with an average student effort (total) between 12-18 hours per subunit and a total duration between 4-6 weeks. Subject classification: RES4CITY adopted the ISCED-F (International Standard Classification of Education – Fields of education and training) as a reference to classify and organise the micro-credential basket based on its fields of education. The following ISCED-F codes were used to classify RES4CITY micro-credentials: • 031: Social and behavioural science (including economic and finance) • 041: Business and administration • 052: Environmental science • 061: Information and communication technologies (including data science) • 071: Engineering and engineering trades • 072: Manufacturing and material • 073: Architecture and construction Referencing to the detailed description of the education fields, the ISCED-F codes were selected and used to indicate the main discipline (i.e., primary discipline) of each MC. It is important to highlight that due to the intrinsic multidisciplinary of RES4CITY’s learning programmes, most of the MCs can be related to multiple disciplines. Consequently, secondary ISCED-F codes were assigned to each MC where relevant (i.e., complementary disciplines)

Implementation of a cogeneration plant for a food processing facility. A case study

The present work presents an investigation regarding the feasibility analysis of a cogeneration plant for a food processing facility with the aim to decrease the cost of energy supply. The monthly electricity and heat consumption profiles are analyzed, in order to understand the consumption profiles, as well as the costs of the current furniture of electricity and gas. Then, a detailed thermodynamic model of the cogeneration cycle is implemented and the investment costs are linked to the thermodynamic variables by means of cost functions. The optimal electricity power of the co-generator is determined with reference to various investment indexes. The analysis highlights that the optimal dimension varies according to the chosen indicator, therefore it is not possible to establish it univocally, but it depends on the financial/economic strategy of the company through the considered investment index

Optimal Regulation Criteria for Building Heating System by Using Lumped Dynamic Models

Abstract Energy efficiency of buildings has gained an important role with respect to possible energy saving policy measures, mainly for space heating demand which represents the dominant energy end-use. The present contribution addresses the problem of estimating building heating energy consumptions by using numerical models able to simulate the dynamic interaction between the building and the heating system. A dynamic numerical code in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) is developed to simulate both building and heating system and the influence of heating system regulation criteria on different parameters (mainly energy saving and internal comfort) is investigated in an optimization perspective

Speech Rhythm Variation in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease: A Study on Different Speaking Tasks

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) usually reveal speech disorders and, among other symptoms, the alteration of speech rhythm. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to test the validity of two acoustic parameters—%V, vowel percentage and VtoV, the mean interval between two consecutive vowel onset points—for the identification of rhythm variation in early-stage PD speech and (2) to analyze the effect of PD on speech rhythm in two different speaking tasks: reading passage and monolog. A group of 20 patients with early-stage PD was involved in this study and compared with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). The results of the acoustic analysis confirmed that %V is a useful cue for early-stage PD speech characterization, having significantly higher values in the production of patients with PD than the values in HC speech. A simple speaking task, such as the reading task, was found to be more effective than spontaneous speech in the detection of rhythmic variations

Potential fuel saving in a powertrain derived from the recovery of the main energy losses for a long haul European mission

[EN] The reduction of automotive fuel consumption and emissions remains one of the main challenges. This paper presents the potential fuel saving in a CNG-powertrain derived from the recovery of the main energy losses. The analysis includes the kinetic energy recovery by a belt starter generator (BSG), the exhaust gas waste heat recuperation by using in a cascade approach, a thermoelectric generator (TEG) and a turbo-generator (TBG)- and the electrification of the main auxiliaries. An additional 48 V board net as well as the addition of a storage system are also included in the study. To support on the design phase of the project and in the operation strategy, a dynamic model in Matlab/Simulink (R) has been used. The model includes all the new components/major changes required in the vehicle- experimentally validated-. It has been used on backward simulations for the ACEA long haul mission in order to maximize the vehicle's efficiency. Estimations at rating point (600 Nm and 1200 rpm) result in an electric production up to 4 kW h and a fuel saving of 7.5%. The most convenient technologies in the ACEA cycle turns out to be the KERs followed by the TBG.This work has been developed in the frame of the project of the European Seventh Union Framework Program by the project High efficiency energy conversion for future heavy duty transport High efficiency energy conversion for future heavy duty transport GASTone grant agreement 605456. The authors are grateful for the given support.Hervas-Blasco, E.; Navarro-Peris, E.; De Rosa, M.; Corberán, JM. (2017). Potential fuel saving in a powertrain derived from the recovery of the main energy losses for a long haul European mission. Energy Conversion and Management. 150:485-499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.08.01848549915

Economic assessment of flexibility offered by an optimally controlled hybrid heat pump generator: a case study for residential building

Abstract The ongoing decarbonisation process of the current energy system, driven by the EU directives, requires that more renewable energy sources are integrated in the global energy mix, as well as policies promoting investments in new low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency and grid infrastructure. The technical integration of renewable energy sources into the existing power system is not straightforward, due to the intrinsic aleatory characteristics of renewable production, which make the power grid balance harder. To handle this issue, beside the traditional supply-side management, grid flexibility can also be provided by enabling the active participation of the demand-side in power system operational procedures, by means of the so-called demand-side management (DSM). The present paper is aimed at assessing the ability of a cost-optimal control strategy, based on model predictive control, to activate demand-response (DR) actions in a residential building equipped with a hybrid heat pump generator coupled with a water thermal storage. Hourly electricity prices are considered as external signals from the grid driving the demand response actions. It is shown that the thermal energy storage turns out to be an effective way to improve the controller performances and make the system more flexible and able to provide services to the power grid. A daily cost-saving up to 35% and 15% have been highlighted with a 1 m3 0.5.m3 tanks, respectively. Finally, the achievable flexibility is shown to be strictly dependent on the storage capacity and operations, which in turn are affected by the generators sizing

Environmental and economic benefits of building retrofit measures for the residential sector by utilizing sensor data and advanced calibrated models

The present paper investigates the energy savings associated with the implementation of retrofitting measures on Irish residential buildings. A detached residential dwelling, representative of approximately 40% of the residential stock in Ireland, was selected as experimental test bed. The building was progressively retrofitted to an all-electric dwelling. Retrofit measures included the installation of a photovoltaic array, a geothermal heat pump, an electric vehicle charging point, along with building fabric upgrades. The building was equipped with a home area network with more than 30 sensors with 15 min monitoring resolution. The experimental data collected during the experimental campaign aided the comprehensive calibration of an EnergyPlus model. This model was used to investigate the effectiveness of the implemented retrofit measures in terms of energy savings and CO2 reductions. Real-time data from the Irish power system operator was used to calculate the building carbon footprint for different levels of renewable energy penetration to the national grid. Results show that the all-electric retrofitted building can achieve energy savings of up to 45%, with CO2 reductions of approximately 29%, compared to the pre-retrofitted building. Implementing the retrofit measures at scale could potentially lead to carbon emission reductions up to 14% for rural areas in Ireland