Advanced Sensors and Controls for Building Applications: Market Assessment and Potential R&D Pathways

Abstract

PREFACEThis document provides background material on a research and development planning effort in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Building Technologies. It is part of a larger set of material to be used in the ongoing planning process and does not, in itself, represent the decisions or policies of DOE. This document does not represent the current DOE research agenda, nor planned research, but instead is intended to provide a point of departure for discussion of potential research options. v EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis document provides a market assessment of existing building sensors and controls and presents a range of technology pathways (R&D options) for pursuing advanced sensors and building control strategies. This report is a synthesis of five white papers, each devoted to either the market assessment or the identification of R&D options to expand the market, and resultant energy savings, from advanced building controls and sensors.The ideas presented in these white papers were purposefully unconstrained by budget to attempt to capture the full range of potential options. As such, choosing and summarizing highlights from each of these papers, and in turn highlighting this in an Executive Summary, is quite challenging. Instead, what is contained in this Executive Summary is an overview of each chapter. Market AssessmentThe market assessment includes estimates of market potential and energy savings for sensors and control strategies currently on the market as well as a discussion of market barriers to these technologies. Contributors to this report believe that significant energy savings and increased comfort and control for occupants can be achieved with advanced technologies. An estimation of the potential market and energy savings from these advanced technologies is the subject of a follow-on market assessment by TIAX, which should be available in 2005. Technology PathwaysThe Technology Pathway is organized into four chapters:• Current Applications and Strategies for New Applications • Sensors and Controls• Networking, Security, and Protocols and Standards• Automated Diagnostics, Performance Monitoring, Commissioning, Optimal Control, and Tools.These chapters can roughly be characterized as follows:1. Applications to building sub-systems (e.g., lighting) and potential new applications (e.g. disaster mitigation).2. Sensor and controls hardware including wireless devices and actuators.3. Issues relating to the internetworking of sensors, controls, and actuators and standards and protocols required for full interoperability.4. Tools and applications for whole building system integration, monitoring, and controls.Each technology pathway chapter gives an overview of the technology or application. This is followed by a discussion of needs and the current status of the technology. Finally, a series of research topics is proposed.vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Review of Literature on Terminal Box Control, Occupancy Sensing Technology and Multi-zone Demand Control Ventilation (DCV)

“…Sand (2004) reports from a literature review savings of $0.05/sf to more than $1/sf from use of DCV. Brambley et al (2005) report on a market assessment for DCV in 2005; the energy impacts found for DCV are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…The need for frequent recalibration (e.g., annually) and the high cost of installation for each zone (or room) makes CO 2 -based control of ventilation at terminal boxes impractical. A multi-lab report (Brambley et al 2005) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on advanced sensors and controls identifies a need for "development of sensors to determine occupancy number and population distribution within buildings." There are no such terminal unit controllers on the market today to modulate air flow to zones based on actual occupancy.…”

Data driven investigation of faults in HVAC systems with model, cluster and compare (MCC)

“…Modern buildings typically use a supervisory computer based Building Management System (BMS) system that coordinates its sensing and control infrastructure, primarily for managing the HVAC system [5]. Most commercial BMSes already provide fault detection features [7], but use simple detection techniques such as threshold monitoring of individual sensors.…”

GreenMind - An Architecture and Realization for Energy Smart Buildings

“…BMS systems are thus a critical component for managing energy demand. Improperly configured BMS systems are believed to account for 20% of building energy usage [3], [4]. The general objective of a modern BMS system is to fulfill the occupants' requirements for comfort while reducing energy consumption during building operations.…”