Model-based virtual sensors for room heat metering and energy ...

5 ConclusionThe introduced approach provides a simple and scalable way to estimate the heating energy of roomsfrom simple temperature readings and a central heat meter. The approach can basically be applied toany buildings heating system that rooms are individually controlled, as long as a representative staticor dynamic relative heating coefficient can be defined. Using this coefficient and remodelling thecontrol behaviour minimises the needed sensor equipment. As wireless temperature sensors providenowadays a cheap and easy integration in any building (Menzel, K. et al., 2008), the approach haspractical value for performance analysis of existing buildings. The approach can be used both foroffline data analysis and online as a virtual sensor to meter rooms’ heat flow.The investigated case study of the ERI building showed that the approach permits to identifyenergy problems in a building. The analysis covered also aspects of the renewable energy sourcesutilised by the ERI building. The combination with an approach to estimate the thermal comfort in therooms (Ahmed, A. et al., 2009) further complements the basis for decision making to improve thebuildings energy consumption. Both approaches mainly utilise simple temperature sensors and,therefore, provide simple ways to evaluate buildings system efficiency and rooms’ consumption whilereducing the building monitoring cost.AcknowledgementsWork in the Strategic Research Cluster ‘ITOBO’ is funded by grant 06-SRC-I1091 from ScienceFoundation Ireland (SFI) with additional contributions from five industry partners. Joern Ploennigsthanks the Humboldt-Foundation and the German BMBF for supporting his research in Ireland.ReferencesAHMED, A., J. PLOENNIGS, Y. GAO, and K. MENZEL. 2009. Analyse building performance data for energy-efficientbuilding operation. In: CIB W78 - 26th Int. Conf. on Managing IT in Construction. Istanbul, Turkey.AUGENBROE, G. and C.-S. PARK. 2005. Quantification methods of technical building performance. Building Researchand Information. 33(2), pp.159-172.CHIRAS, D. 2006. The homeowner's guide to renewable energy: achieving energy independence through solar, wind,biomass and hydropower. New Society Publishers.CHWIEDUK, D. 2003. Towards sustainable-energy buildings. Applied Energy. 76(1-3), pp.211-217.CLARIDGE, D., J. HABERL, M. LIU et al. 1994. Can You Achieve 150 Percent Predicted Retrofit Savings: Is It Time forRecommissioning? In: ACEEE 1994 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Washington D.C., US, pp.73-88.ISO 7730 - Ergonomics of the thermal environment - Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort usingcalculation of the PMV and PPD indices and local thermal comfort criteria. 2005. ISO.ITOBO. 2007. Information & Communication Technology for Sustainable and Optimised Building Operation. Cork:http://zuse.ucc.ie/itobo/.JAGEMAR, L. and D. OLSSON. 2007. The EPBD and Continuous Commissioning.KEANE, M. 2005. Hidden Depths. Building Service Journal., pp.23-28.MENZEL, K., D. PESCH, B. O’FLYNN et al. 2008. Towards a Wireless Sensor Platform for Energy Efficient BuildingOperation. In: 12th Int. Conf. on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering. Beijing, China, pp.381-386.NGOWI, A. B. 2001. Creating competitive advantage by using environment-friendly building processes. Building andEnvironment. 36(3), pp.291-298.ROULET, C.A. and B. ANDERSON. 2006. CEN Standards for Implementing the European Directive on EnergyPerformance of Buildings. In: PLEA - 23rd Int. Conf. on Passive and Low Energy Architecture. Geneva, Switzerland.VASYUTYNSKYY, V., J. PLOENNIGS, and K. KABITZSCH. 2005. Passive Monitoring of Control Loops in BuildingAutomation. In: FET 2005 - 6th IFAC Int. Conf. on Fieldbus Systems and their Applications. Mexico, pp.263-269.WOLFGANG, F. 2005. Assessing building performance. Butterworth-Heinemann.