Lead Performer: Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN
May 20, 2020
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Lead Performer: Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN
Partners:
-- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Richland, WA
-- National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Golden, CO
DOE Total Funding: $850,000
Project Term: October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2022
Funding Type: Lab Award
Project Objective
This project will evaluate the impact of new sensing technologies and their integration with existing building systems. The overarching project goal is to develop a framework for investigating the impact of sensor configuration on building energy optimization, fault detection and diagnosis, occupant thermal comfort, and (potentially) grid efficiency. Sensor configuration and deployment methodology critically impact building system control and thermal comfort; however, traditionally sensing techniques are often suboptimal with respect to energy efficiency and thermal comfort.
For this project, ORNL, PNNL, and NREL will collaborate to develop a framework for investigating the impact of sensor configuration on building energy optimization, fault detection and diagnosis, occupant thermal comfort, and (potentially) grid efficiency. Potential sensor configuration use cases will be identified for building control and fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) applications. A novel sensor impact emulator to quantify the energy efficiency and thermal comfort impacts of sensor architecture design will be developed using building energy simulation, computational fluid dynamic models, and experimental study. Iterative simulation will then be used to optimize sensor configuration strategies.
Finally, building system use cases will be developed to demonstrate and validate the resulting evaluation framework. NREL’s contributions to this project will focus on the FDD implications of sensor architecture.
Project Impact
The project team will evaluate the impact of new sensing technologies and their integration with existing building systems.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Erika Gupta
Lead Performer: Teja Kuruganti, Oak Ridge National Laboratory