Lead Performer: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley, CA
May 19, 2020
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Lead Performer: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley, CA
Partners:
-- MoviTHERM – Irvine, CA
-- Center for the Built Environment at the University of California at Berkeley – Berkeley, CA
-- Daikin U.S. -- Waller, TX
DOE Total Funding: $1,500,000
Project Term: May 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022
Funding Type: BENEFIT 18 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
Project Objective
Cooling-energy overuse that discomforts occupants, or “overcooling,” wastes about 0.5 Quads of primary energy annually in U.S. commercial buildings, and may waste a comparable amount of energy in U.S. homes. There are several causes for overcooling, all based on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) operating assumptions that are more conservative than necessary.
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at the University of California at Berkeley, MoviTHERM, and Daikin U.S. are working on this project to provide a revolutionary solution to the challenge of overcooling: a wide-view (many-occupant) biometric comfort sensor integrated with closed-loop HVAC control. Specifically, the project will supplement conventional wall-mounted room air temperature sensors with a ceiling-mounted, wide-angle sensor that views the occupants. Taking measures to protect privacy, the team will combine thermal-infrared (TIR) and visual cameras with machine vision to determine the location, skin-surface temperature profile, and thermal comfort of each observable occupant, as well as the spatial distribution of room surface temperatures. The sensor/controller will create maps of room temperature and occupant comfort, and from these evaluate the collective comfort of the occupants.
Project Impact
This project seeks to improve occupant comfort and save cooling energy by implementing a closed-loop heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) sensor/controller that radiatively detects occupants, occupant comfort, and room surface temperature distribution, then uses this information to reduce overcooling (cooling-energy overuse that discomforts occupants) by regulating HVAC output. The expected outcome is that use of the sensor/controller would decrease commercial-building overcooling by at least 50%.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Erika Gupta
Lead Performer: Ronnen Levinson, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory