FEEdBACk: An ICT-Based Platform to Increase Energy Efficiency through Buildings’ Consumer Engagement

Energy efficiency in buildings can be enhanced by several actions: encouraging users to comprehend and then adopt more energy-efficient behaviors; aiding building managers in maximizing energy savings; and using automation to optimize energy consumption, generation, and storage of controllable and flexible devices without compromising comfort levels and indoor air-quality parameters. This paper proposes an integrated Information and communications technology (ICT) based platform addressing all these factors. The gamification platform is embedded in the ICT platform along with an interactive energy management system, which aids interested stakeholders in optimizing “when and at which rate” energy should be buffered and consumed, with several advantages, such as reducing peak load, maximizing local renewable energy consumption, and delivering more efficient use of the resources available in individual buildings or blocks of buildings. This system also interacts with an automation manager and a users’ behavior predictor application. The work was developed in the Horizon 2020 FEEdBACk (Fostering Energy Efficiency and BehAvioral Change through ICT) project.

Evaluation and extension of an automated system to diagnose the health of premature babies

Camille Joggi

Premature babies are not fully equipped to deal with the outside world. Their immature bodies make them highly at risk to a large number of physiological complications. Therefore, while they are still immature, premature babies are taken care of in neonatology intensive care units, where they are kept in a controlled and protective environment. In these units, the babies' vital parameters, such as their heart rate and temperature, are tightly monitored. The devices used to record this data are fitted with alarms that are triggered automatically when something wrong is detected. However, the alarm systems currently used are often unable to discriminate between real physiological problems and artefacts that should be ignored (e.g. when a measurement device drops-out). As a result, these systems produce a high rate of false alarms, where the alarm is triggered when nothing is clinically wrong. The can have unwanted consequences: first, it creates a noisy environment, which may disturb the babies; second, it can lead to the alarm being ignored when there is actually something wrong. In order to address this problem, my host laboratory has constructed a system that can automatically infer the state of health of premature babies in neonatology units, based on their recorded physiological data. The new system is designed to be able to deal with artefactual changes in the measurements, hopefully resulting in a reduced number of false alarms. In this thesis, I describe my contribution to this project, which is twofold. The first part deals with the problem of evaluating the performance of the system. To do this, I developed an online feedback process, where clinicians could provide information about the true clinical interpretation of the physiological data, which could be compared to the output of the system. The feedbacks provided by the clinicians were then analysed to investigate how the system could be improved. The second part of my thesis was motivated be early feedbacks from the clinicians, which indicated that the system was unable to deal with changes in the humidity measurements that occurred when the incubator door was opened and closed. To address this, I extended the current system, so that it was able to account for these changes, thereby increasing its capability to detect "true" physiological problems during the period after the incubator door is closed.

2011

Gas Sampling Using Convection and Humidity Stabilization to Improve Point Gas Sensor Responses

Emily Ann Hammes

Many diseases including sick building syndrome, respiratory problems and cancers can be caused by exposure to high concentrations of toxins commonly used in modern building materials, paints, glues and furniture. To minimize exposure to these toxins, it is important to have air exchange with the outside environment. However, this is usually not energy efficient because the air must be heated or cooled. The purpose of the Intasense project was to resolve this problem by creating an air quality monitor which could determine the current quality of air within the building. This information would then be used to control the ventilation system within an energy efficient building. The purpose of this Ph.D. thesis was both to build a system which could be used to test and calibrate sensors used in the air quality monitor as well as to build its final fluidic platform. During this thesis, three fluidic platforms which include a humidity buffering system were designed, tested and constructed. The first platform was used to test an electrochemical sensor or metal oxide sensor in the laboratory. The second and third platforms held three electrochemical or metal oxide sensors, respectively. They are able to deliver equal quantities of gas to the sensors simultaneously. To date, the multisensor metal oxide platform has been used to create two versions of the Intasense Demonstrator and used to calibrate novel and commercial gas sensors. In both of these applications simultaneous delivery of equal quantities of the sample gas are required for optimal gas sensor signal processing: equal quantities are required so that the amount of analyte in contact with each sensor is the same and simultaneous delivery allows all three sensors to respond concurrently. This was achieved by creating a computational model of gas flow through the system, conducting a parameter sweep and then selecting the optimal set. To confirm that the model and machine error were not significant, a Latin square design was used to test the platform. This test showed that gas delivery to each channel was equal within statistical boundaries. Another major challenge was buffering humidity fluctuations without loss of analyte gas. This was necessary because metal oxide gas sensors are also sensitive to humidity fluctuations. To prevent a false positive caused by a rapid humidity increase, a reversible adsorbent was placed upstream of the gas sensors. However, there was concern that the adsorbent may remove analyte gasses. To optimize the tradeoff between humidity buffering and loss or delay of analyte signal, a computational model of adsorption and desorption of gasses within the filtration system was developed. It was experimentally tested using benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide. To date ten platforms have been delivered to laboratories throughout Europe. Three are being used to test and calibrate gas sensors. The rest have been used to create demonstrators of the Intasense Air Quality Monitor.

EPFL2016

Real-World Implementation of an ICT-Based Platform to Promote Energy Efficiency

Marina Dorokhova

The energy efficiency requirements of most energy-consuming sectors have increased recently in response to climate change. For buildings, this means targeting both facility managers and building users with the aim of identifying potential energy savings and encouraging more energy-responsible behaviors. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform developed in Horizon 2020 FEEdBACk project intends to fulfill these goals by enabling the optimization of energy consumption, generation, and storage and control of flexible devices without compromising comfort levels and indoor air quality parameters. This work aims to demonstrate the real-world implementation and functionality of the ICT platform composed of Load Disaggregation, Net Load Forecast, Occupancy Forecast, Automation Manager, and Behavior Predictor applications. Particularly, the results obtained by individual applications during the test phase are presented alongside the specific metrics used to evaluate their performance.