Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems
The digital transformation has paved the path for new services and efficient management across the value chain of the whole energy sector. For applications behind the meter, buildings stand out as a major contributor to energy consumption and corresponding emissions. Therefore, Building Automation C...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Buildings |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/9/1479 |
| _version_ | 1797490332643885056 |
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| author | Athila Santos Na Liu Muhyiddine Jradi |
| author_facet | Athila Santos Na Liu Muhyiddine Jradi |
| author_sort | Athila Santos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The digital transformation has paved the path for new services and efficient management across the value chain of the whole energy sector. For applications behind the meter, buildings stand out as a major contributor to energy consumption and corresponding emissions. Therefore, Building Automation Control Systems (BACS) have been proposed in order to mitigate building performance issues. Finding optimal and automated methods to handle different control points of BACS is very important. In the initial design and commissioning phases, HVAC systems need to be tested exhaustively to guarantee proper function and expected operation compliance. However, the availability of automated step response test tools applied in the building sector is still scarce, forcing engineers around the globe to manually test different scenarios over the same buildings multiple times. This is a tedious and error-prone approach that lacks precision and good resource allocation. Therefore, we propose AUSTRET: a parallel automated multiple processing software for step response testing in buildings. The tool aims to automate the laborious step response tests of BACS cost-effectively. The input parameters can be provided for several control zones and on different control systems. The multi-processing capability allows the step response execution to run in parallel saving time and resources from the operators. The implementation of AUSTRET is first tested in a living lab environment in a university office building and then demonstrated on full-scale in a commercial building setting. The results show how the parallel processing capability of AUSTRET enhances the productivity and efficiency of step response tests in a building and how the different configuration parameters can affect the overall performance of the tests. The preliminary results indicate how automated tools, such as AUSTRET, can improve the automation and effectiveness of step response tests in the design phase or during retro-commissioning building processes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:31:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65af50ed8fac4f56bc68f192715c7c62 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-5309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:31:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Buildings |
| spelling | doaj.art-65af50ed8fac4f56bc68f192715c7c622023-11-23T15:25:20ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092022-09-01129147910.3390/buildings12091479Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation SystemsAthila Santos0Na Liu1Muhyiddine Jradi2Center for Energy Informatics, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, DenmarkCenter for Energy Informatics, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, DenmarkCenter for Energy Informatics, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, DenmarkThe digital transformation has paved the path for new services and efficient management across the value chain of the whole energy sector. For applications behind the meter, buildings stand out as a major contributor to energy consumption and corresponding emissions. Therefore, Building Automation Control Systems (BACS) have been proposed in order to mitigate building performance issues. Finding optimal and automated methods to handle different control points of BACS is very important. In the initial design and commissioning phases, HVAC systems need to be tested exhaustively to guarantee proper function and expected operation compliance. However, the availability of automated step response test tools applied in the building sector is still scarce, forcing engineers around the globe to manually test different scenarios over the same buildings multiple times. This is a tedious and error-prone approach that lacks precision and good resource allocation. Therefore, we propose AUSTRET: a parallel automated multiple processing software for step response testing in buildings. The tool aims to automate the laborious step response tests of BACS cost-effectively. The input parameters can be provided for several control zones and on different control systems. The multi-processing capability allows the step response execution to run in parallel saving time and resources from the operators. The implementation of AUSTRET is first tested in a living lab environment in a university office building and then demonstrated on full-scale in a commercial building setting. The results show how the parallel processing capability of AUSTRET enhances the productivity and efficiency of step response tests in a building and how the different configuration parameters can affect the overall performance of the tests. The preliminary results indicate how automated tools, such as AUSTRET, can improve the automation and effectiveness of step response tests in the design phase or during retro-commissioning building processes.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/9/1479step responsetestbuilding automationauditingcontrolparallel processing |
| spellingShingle | Athila Santos Na Liu Muhyiddine Jradi Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems Buildings step response test building automation auditing control parallel processing |
| title | Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems |
| title_full | Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems |
| title_fullStr | Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems |
| title_short | Design, Development and Implementation of a Novel Parallel Automated Step Response Testing Tool for Building Automation Systems |
| title_sort | design development and implementation of a novel parallel automated step response testing tool for building automation systems |
| topic | step response test building automation auditing control parallel processing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/9/1479 |
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