NANDRAD is a dynamic building energy simulation program. It calulates heating/cooling requirements and electric power consumption with respect to realistic climatic conditions and dynamic room usage. The model includes one-dimensional spatially resolved heat transport through multi-layered walls and thermal storage of solid components (room furniture/building walls). Consequently, massive constructions forms in the European area are very well represented. Further, NANDRAD calculates geometrical long radiation heat exchange inside the room. Heating systems may be modeled with a high level of geometrical detail, i.e. surface heating systems as part of the wall constructions and radiant heaters inside the room. NANDRAD can be applied for passive building simulation, energy optimization and thermal comfort analysis with respect to a very detailed building representation. In this terms, the model supports the simulation of a large number of zones and walls without need for subgrouping or other model reduction strategies.

Aktuellt examensarbete är en fallstudie som utförts på en miljonprogramsbyggnad i Andersberg ägd av AB Galvegårdarna vilka även är uppdragsgivarna. Då miljonprogramsbyggnader är dåligt värmeisolerade och har stora värmeläckage är det idag av stort intresse att se över eventuella förbättringsåtgärder då dessa byggnader har en potential att minska energianvändningen med 50 procent. Syftet med detta projekt är att få en kalibrerad och validerad modell med hjälp av den BES-modell (Building Energy System) som kommer att tas fram i detta examensarbete. Genom litteraturstudie, platsbesök samt inhämtning av protokoll, ritningar och uppmätta data för byggnaden kunde modellen skapas och kalibreras i simuleringsprogrammet IDA Indoor Climate and Energy. Ritningar och data tillhandahölls från AB Gavlegårdarna och platsbesök gjordes för att komplettera dessa genom att göra mätningar av temperaturer i de allmänna utrymmena. På plats kunde även byggnadens mått mätas för att säkerställa att byggnaden inte hade uppdaterats sedan tilldelade ritningarna skapats. När samtlig information ansågs ha införskaffats lades all data in i IDA ICE där även en modell av byggnaden byggdes upp. För köldbryggorna användes simuleringsverktyget COMSOL Multiphysics för att ta fram de enskilda köldbryggornas psi-värden vilka därefter användes som input i byggnadsmodellen i IDA ICE. Den kalibrerade modellen framtagen i detta projekt visade sig stämma med uppmätta värden så när som på +- 10% då den ställdes mot det uppmätta energibehovet för byggnaden. Mot en nyutvecklad energisignatursmodells byggnadsförlustkoefficient blev skillnaden 19.6% vilket kan bero på att fel från simuleringsverktygen samt osäkerheter angående omätbara parametrar. Slutsastsen utav detta arbete var att ”performance gap” även inträffade på den framtagna modellen i detta arbete. Vilket verkar vara svårt att undvika. På platsbesöket upptäcktes vattensamlingar på taket på byggnaden vilket var en förvåning för författarna då det fanns dokument som sade att ytskiktet var bytt 2015 och att det fanns indikeringar på att detta kunde få omfattande konsekvenser om det inte åtgärdas vilket tas upp under diskussion Framtida arbete om varför boendes bettendemönster underskattas vore något att gå vidare med i framtida studier för att kunna minska ”performance gap” på BES modeller. / This thesis is a case study carried out on a Million Homes Program (MHP) building in Andersberg owned by AB Galvegårdarna, whom are also the clients. Since MHPbuildings are poorly insulated and have major heat leaks, it is of great interest today to investigate any improvement measures as these buildings have a potential to reduce their energy use by 50 percent. This is possible with the help of the calibrated model in a building energy performance simulation (BEPS) tool, which is the purpose of developing in this thesis. Through a literature study, visit in the building and gathering protocols, drawings and measured data, a model could be built and calibrated in IDA Indoor Climate and Energy was started. Drawings and data were provided from AB Gavlegårdarna and site visits were made to supplement these by taking measurements of temperatures in the common areas. On site, the dimensions of the building were also measured to ensure that the building had not been upgraded since the assigned drawings were created. When all the information was considered to have been obtained, all data was entered into IDA ICE where a model of the building was also built up. For the thermal bridges, the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation tool was used to generate their individual linear heat loss coefficient which were used as input in the building model of IDA ICE. The calibrated model developed in this project turned out to have a deviation of 10 % against annual district heating energy. The simulated building heat loss coefficient differed with 19.6 % compared to the one produced with a newly developed energy signature method for the corresponding year which may be caused by errors in the simulation tools and uncertainty concerning immeasurable parameters. The final conclusion of this work was that the performance gap also occurred on this model developed in this work, which seems to be hard to avoid. During the site visit, water collections on the roof of the building were discovered which was a surprise to the authors as there were documents that said that the surface layer had been changed in 2015 and that there were indications that this could have significant consequences if not addressed which is mentioned in the chapter of discussion. Future work on why residents’ behavioral patterns are underestimated would be something to continue with in future studies in order to reduce the “performance gap” in BES models.

The diploma thesis with research of efficiency of renewable and low-potential energy sources of buildings. It is available on numerical simulations for sharing office and heating and cooling system buildings in DesignBuilder. There are various energy sources and ways of controlling heating and cooling. The results are evaluated in terms of time, after the expected compromises in the building, in terms of energy consumption and its price.

Diploma thesis "Low-energy building" presents low-energy construction trends and their price comparision with conventional contruction. This thesis defines basic low-energy building terms, both building and construction work evaluation concepts and specifics of low-energy construction. Practical outcome is comparision between passive and conventional buildings, including economic appraisal.

The aim of the thesis is the energy rating of buildings. The introduction included the issues of the topic, including normative and legislative regulations, process energy performance certificates along with energy audits for residential building. The object is evaluated in terms of energy, economic and environmental. Within the energy audit was designed and evaluated austerity measures.

This thesis discusses the operational coordination of electrical appliances and devices in a smart home. At present, the diminishing volume of fossil fuels and the increasing pressure to use renewable sources of energy necessitate the integration of such volatile sources into electrical grids. This process, however, results in higher energy costs, and the consumers are thus more willing to change their behaviour to either reduce the expenses or maintain them at a reasonable level. One of the relatively few customer-oriented options to optimise energy costs consists in the demand – response principle, which utilises external information to minimise energy consumption during high price periods. Assuming the constantly changing conditions in electrical grids, and thus also the varying demands, it is vital to provide for automatic optimisation excluding the need of user intervention. The thesis presents a method which, after being implemented into the control member, will facilitate the optimal use of appliances and devices within a smart home. As the behaviour considered optimal from the perspective of demand - response is often inconsistent with the consumer‘s requirements for comfortable use of the appliances, the proposed technique offers a compromise through enabling the consumer to select the appropriate strategy. Five universal optimisation models are designed within the thesis; these models facilitate description of common home appliances and local electricity sources. The core of the method lies in formulating and optimising a mixed integer quadratic problem (MIQP). The optimisation task yields an operational schedule for the individual appliances, and this scheme considers the energy costs, the working cycle of the appliance, the user’s demands, the system restrictions and/or other input data. Furthermore, the author extends the above-discussed general technique, enabling it to adopt robust behaviour. The method then secures the preset strategy even during a marked change of the input conditions, and its robustness is a viable precondition for the overall applicability of the technique in the real control member.

The interlinking of enriched BIM data to Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) models facilitates the data flow throughout the building life cycle. This seamless data transfer from BIM to BEPS models increases design efficiency. To investigate the interoperability between these models, this paper analyses different data transfer methodologies along with input data requirements for the simulation process. Based on the analysed knowledge, a methodology is adopted and demonstrated to identify the quality of the data transfer process. Furthermore, discussions are provided on identified efficiency gaps and future work.:Abstract Introduction and background Methodology Methodology demonstration Creation and export of BIM data Verification of OpenBIM meta-data BEPS model generation and validation Import statics Model Geometry and Orientation Construction details Thermal Profile Results and discussion Summary and future work References

This research work is focused on a conceptual combination of membrane-based energy recovery ventilator (ERV) and phase change material (PCM) to provide energy savings in building heating, ventilation & air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. An ERV can recover thermal energy and moisture between the outside fresh air (OFA) entering into the building and the exhaust air (EA) leaving from the building thus reducing the energy consumption of the HVAC system for cooling and heating the spaces inside the building. The membranes were stacked parallel to each other forming adjacent channels in a counter-flow arrangement for OFA and EA streams. Heat and moisture is diffused through the membrane core. Flat-plate encapsulated PCM is arranged in OFA duct upstream/downstream of the ERV thereby allowing for further reduction in temperature by virtue of free cooling. Paraffin-based PCMs with a melting point of 24°C and 31°C is used in two different configurations where the PCM is added either before or after the ERV. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and heat and mass transfer modeling is employed using COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3 to perform the heat and mass transfer analysis for the membrane-based ERV and flat-plate PCMs. An 8-story office building was considered to perform building energy simulation using eQUEST v3.65 from Department of Energy (DOE). Based on the heat and mass transfer analysis, it is found that the sensible effectiveness (heat recovery) stood in the range of 65%-97% while the latent effectiveness (moisture recovery) stood at 55%-80%. Also, the highest annual energy savings achieved were 72,700 kWh in electricity consumption and 358.45 MBtu in gas consumption.

Energy recovery ventilation (ERV) systems are designed to decrease the energy consumed by building HVAC systems. ERV’s scavenge sensible and latent energy from the exhaust air leaving a building or space and recycle this energy content to pre-condition the entering outdoor air. A few studies found in the open literature are dedicated to developing detailed numerical models to predict or simulate the performance of energy recovery wheels and desiccant wheels. However, the models are often computationally intensive, requiring a lot of time to perform parametric studies. For example, if the physical characteristics of a study target change (e.g., wheel diameter or depth) or if the system runs at different operating conditions (e.g., wheel rotation speed or airflow rate), the model parameters need to be recalculated. Hence, developing a mapping method with better computational efficiency, which will enable the opportunity to conduct extensive parametric or optimal design studies for different wheels is the goal of this research. In this work, finite difference method (FDM) numerical models of energy recovery wheels and desiccant wheels are established and validated with laboratory test results. The FDM models are then used to provide data for the development of performance mapping methods for an energy wheel or a desiccant wheel. After validating these new mapping approaches, they are employed using independent data sets from different laboratories and other sources available in the literature to identify their universality. One significant characteristic of the proposed mapping methods that makes the contribution unique is that once the models are trained, they can be used to predict performance for other wheels with different physical geometries or different operating conditions if the desiccant material is identical. The methods provide a computationally efficient performance prediction tool; therefore, they are ideal to integrate with transient building energy simulation software to conduct performance evaluations or optimizations of energy recovery/ desiccant wheel integrated HVAC systems.

<p>  </p> <p>Thermal energy storage (TES) is used to reduce the operating costs of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems by shifting loads away from on-peak periods, to reduce the maximum heating or cooling capacity needed from the HVAC system, and to store excess energy generated by on-site solar power. The most commonly-used form of TES is ice storage with air conditioning (A/C) systems in commercial buildings. There has been extensive research into many other forms of TES for use with HVAC systems, both in commercial and residential buildings. However, this research is often limited to use with either heating or cooling systems.</p> <p>Year-round, high-density storage for both heating and cooling would yield significantly larger cost savings than existing TES systems, particularly for residential buildings, where heating loads are often larger than cooling loads. This dissertation examines the feasibility of using metal hydrides for year-round storage, as well as analyzing the potential of variable-temperature energy storage for optimizing system performance beyond allowing for year-round use.</p> <p>Metal hydrides are metals that exothermically absorb and endothermically desorb hydrogen. Since the temperature this reaction occurs at depends on the hydrogen pressure, hydrides can be used for energy storage at varying temperatures. System architecture for using metal hydrides with an HVAC system is developed. A thermodynamic model which combines a dynamic model of the hydride reactors with a static model of the HVAC system is used to calculate operating costs, compared to a conventional HVAC system, for different utility rates and locations. The payback period of the system is unacceptably high, due to the high initial cost of metal hydrides and the operating costs of compressing hydrogen to move it between hydride reactors.</p> <p>In addition to the metal hydride system model, a generalized model of a variable-temperature TES system is used to determine the potential cost savings from dynamically altering the storage temperature to achieve optimal cost savings. Dynamic tuning does result in cost savings but is most effective for storage tank sizes significantly smaller than the optimal tank size. An alternate system design where the storage tank is charged with the outlet flow from the house achieves larger cost savings even for the optimally-sized tanks. Payback periods calculated for optimal sizing show that year-round storage has a lower payback period than separate cold and heat storage if the year-round storage system is not more expensive than two separate storage tanks. </p>