Improving building energy modelling by applying advanced 3D surveying techniques on agri-food facilities

Abstract

Food industry is the production sector with the highest energy consumption. In Europe, the energy used to produce food accounts for 26% of total energy consumption. Over 28% is used in industrial processes. Recently, European food companies have increased their efforts to make their production processes more sustainable, also by giving preference to the use of renewable energy sources. In Italy, the total energy consumption in agriculture and food sectors decreased between 2013 and 2014, passing from 16.79 to 13.3 Mtep. Since energy consumption in food industry is nearly twice the one in agriculture (8.57 and 4.73 Mtep, respectively), it is very important to improve energy efficiency and use green technologies in all the phases of food processing and conservation. In Italy, a recent law (Legislative Decree 102, 04/07/2014) has made energy-use diagnosis compulsory for all industrial concerns, particularly for those showing high consumption levels. In the case of food industry buildings, energy is mainly used for indoor microclimate control, which is needed to ensure workers' wellbeing and the most favourable conditions for food processing and conservation. To this end, it is important to have tools and methods allowing for easy, rapid and precise energy performance assessment of agri-food buildings. The accuracy of the results obtainable from the currently available computational models depends on the grade of detail and information used in constructional and geometric modelling. Moreover, this phase is probably the most critical and time-consuming in the energy diagnosis. In this context, fine surveying and advanced 3D geometric modelling procedures can facilitate building modelling and allow technicians and professionals in the agri-food sector to use highly efficient and accurate energy analysis and evaluation models. This paper proposes a dedicated model for energy performance assessment in agri-food buildings. It also shows that by using advanced surveying techniques, such as a terrestrial laser scanner and an infrared camera, it is possible to create a three-dimensional parametric model, while, thanks to the heat flow meter measurement method, it is also possible to obtain a thermophysical model. This model allows assessing the energy performance of agri-food buildings in order to improve the indoor microclimate control and the conditions of food processing and conservation.

ITACAFood: A Model to Certificate the Sustainability of Food Processing Facilities

“…On the first floor ( Figure 5) there are the offices and there is also a large unit area (1400 square meters) for the storage of packaging, which is connected to the ground floor by a lift. The external walls, thick 12 cm, are made of concrete insulated panels, the indoor partition walls are made of plasterboard, while the refrigerating room walls are made of insulated aluminum sandwich panels [24]. On the first floor ( Figure 5) there are the offices and there is also a large unit area (1400 square meters) for the storage of packaging, which is connected to the ground floor by a lift.…”

“…On the roof of the building, a 1000 square meters of photovoltaic panels have been installed to The external walls, thick 12 cm, are made of concrete insulated panels, the indoor partition walls are made of plasterboard, while the refrigerating room walls are made of insulated aluminum sandwich panels [24].…”

Assessment of Passive Retrofitting Strategies to Improve the Thermal Performance of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Storage Area in Traditional Rural Olive Mills

“…A weather station was placed close to the building to survey the meteorological data ( Figure 6b). All the data surveyed by the sensor network were recorded at a time interval of 15 min by a data logger [22]. The surveyed data showed that, during the monitoring period, the temperature in the oil storage area was sometimes above 30 • C, a value far higher than the maximum correct temperature for the proper storage of extra-virgin olive oil.…”

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Buildings for Sustainable Agri-Food Production—A Method Applied to an Olive Oil Mill

“…The modelling and analysis carried out with such a software program allowed simulation and verification, in real-time, of the effectiveness of certain solutions. The developed model of analysis was calibrated by comparing the instrumental thermo-hygrometric measurements taken on site and the values obtained from the simulation under real conditions [21]. A few minor sustainable insulation interventions were proposed, such as the installation of a sun screen on the external wall exposed to the south-west; the separation of the storage area from the processing area by means of an internal mobile partition wall [22]; an automatic forced ventilation system with a 7 vol/h air renewal; the thermal insulation of the walls of the storage area with 7 cm-thick agglomerate cork boards (λ = 0.04 W·m −1 ·K −1 ) [23,24]; a better insulation and ventilation of the roof; and the construction of a Canadian well, i.e., a geothermal system that uses the energy present in the ground, just beneath the Earth's surface, to heat or cool ventilation air inside the buildings [25].…”

“…The modelling and analysis carried out with such a software program allowed simulation and verification, in real-time, of the effectiveness of certain solutions. The developed model of analysis was calibrated by comparing the instrumental thermo-hygrometric measurements taken on site and the values obtained from the simulation under real conditions [21]. The instrumental analysis was carried out from 19 July to 29 September 2016, a time interval generally including the hottest period of the year [19].…”