Anthony D. Fontanini

A methodology for optimal placement of sensors in enclosed environments: A dynamical systems approach

Abstract Air quality has been an important issue in public health for many years. Sensing the level and distributions of impurities help in the control of building systems and mitigate long term health risks. Rapid detection of infectious diseases in large public areas like airports and train stations may help limit exposure and aid in reducing the spread of the disease. Complete coverage by sensors to account for any release scenario of chemical or biological warfare agents may provide the opportunity to develop isolation and evacuation plans that mitigate the impact of the attack. All these scenarios involve strategic placement of sensors to promptly detect and rapidly respond. This paper presents a data driven sensor placement algorithm based on a dynamical systems approach. The approach utilizes the finite dimensional Perron-Frobenius (PF) concept. The PF operator (or the Markov matrix) is used to construct an observability gramian that naturally incorporates sensor accuracy, location constraints, and sensing constraints. The algorithm determines the response times, sensor coverage maps, and the number of sensors needed. The utility of the procedure is illustrated using four examples: a literature example of the flow field inside an aircraft cabin and three air flow fields in different geometries. The effect of the constraints on the response times for different sensor placement scenarios is investigated. Knowledge of the response time and coverage of the multiple sensors aides in the design of mechanical systems and response mechanisms. The methodology provides a simple process for place sensors in a building, analyze the sensor coverage maps and response time necessary during extreme events, as well as evaluate indoor air quality. The theory established in this paper also allows for future work in topics related to construction of classical estimator problems for the sensors, real-time contaminant transport, and development of agent dispersion, contaminant isolation/removal, and evacuation strategies.

Constructing Markov matrices for real-time transient contaminant transport analysis for indoor environments

Abstract Predicting the movement of contaminants in the indoor environment has applications in tracking airborne infectious disease, ventilation of gaseous contaminants, and the isolation of spaces during biological attacks. Markov matrices provide a convenient way to perform contaminant transport analysis. However, no standardized method exists for calculating these matrices. A methodology based on set theory is developed for calculating contaminant transport in real-time utilizing Markov matrices from CFD flow data (or discrete flow field data). The methodology provides a rigorous yet simple strategy for determining the number and size of the Markov states, the time step associated with the Markov matrix, and calculation of individual entries of the Markov matrix. The procedure is benchmarked against scalar transport of validated airflow fields in enclosed and ventilated spaces. The approach can be applied to any general airflow field, and is shown to calculate contaminant transport over 3000 times faster than solving the corresponding scalar transport partial differential equation. This near real-time methodology allows for the development of more robust sensing and control procedures of critical care environments (clean rooms and hospital wards), small enclosed spaces (like airplane cabins) and high traffic public areas (train stations and airports).

Development and verification of the Fraunhofer attic thermal model

Attic spaces are one of the most dynamic components in the building envelope. Engineers, designers, architects, and contractors can utilize different attic designs, materials, and mechanical equipment in attic spaces to optimize attic thermal and energy performance and to meet the needs of home owners, codes, and standards. The design of attic spaces becomes extremely important when considering energy usage. Simple changes can often drastically change the energy characteristics and long-term durability performance. Historically, interest has been focused on attic spaces with gable ends and materials with constant thermal properties. However, recent years have seen increasing interest in more geometrically complex roofs, and in novel materials tailored for the building envelop. Modification of the state-of-the-art attic simulation software to include these changes is very difficult, since most of the software developments date back to the 1970s. This paper discusses development and verification of the Fraunhofer attic thermal model (FATM). FATMs numerical predictions are verified against benchmark thermal problems and other energy load calculation software. FATM has several novel features, including (a) a capability for analysis of both convex and non-convex attic geometries, (b) incorporation of temperature-dependent material properties, (c) temperature dynamics of the conditioned space, and (d) a careful software engineering informed approach to build a generic, modular, and flexible numerical framework. The contributions of this paper increase the applicability of the framework to a larger percentage of attic spaces around the world, allow for future changes to the framework to be easily made, and introduce methods to create a modular framework to implement into whole building simulation programmes. With this newly developed approach to determining energy loads in attic spaces, the form of attic spaces and novel material construction systems can be easily explored.