Mark Gillott

Investigating the effects of dynamic demand side management within intelligent Smart Energy communities of future decentralized power system

This paper firstly discusses the benefits of transforming conventional power system into decentralized systems which are composed of clusters of smart energy communities, supplied mainly by renewable energy sources. Application of Demand Side Management within such communities has been identified as a necessity to account for the required degree of active management in such dynamic systems. The intelligent Smart Energy Community project and its concepts have been discussed. An electricity demand model has been created and used to firstly determine the appropriate size of a community for implementation of an effective and non-disturbing load shifting demand side management. The model is then utilized to quantify the potential benefits of applying load shifting demand side management with a variable severity level.

Performance of a novel mechanical ventilation heat recovery heat pump system

Abstract The ventilation, heating and cooling of a building can be provided by advanced mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems (MVHR) which incorporate heat pumps. This paper covers the testing and performance of a novel MVHR heat pump system developed for the domestic market [S.B. Riffat, The University of Nottingham: Patent no. GB9522882.1, 1995; Patent no. GB9522882.1, 1996; Patent no. GB9507035.5, 1995]. The novel system uses revolving heat exchangers which both impel air and transfer heat. Low grade heat recovered from the exhaust air is upgraded by a heat pump and used for heating the fresh supply air. The system typically provides 2 kW of heating for air supplied at 250 m 3 /h. The prototype system has a heating coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 5 and an average system of COP 2.5 over a range of conditions. The system can also be used for cooling by switching the air flows over the evaporator and condenser. The prototype system requires very little maintenance and is compact and energy efficient.

The Use of Intelligent Systems for Monitoring Energy Use and Occupancy in Existing Homes

In the UK the existing domestic building stock accounts for 30 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions [Domestic energy fact file, BRE, 2008]. The UK Government has set ambitious targets for reducing UK carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. These targets will require significant changes to the existing buildings. To understand and quantify the benefits of refurbishment solutions, it is vital to monitor exemplar buildings and to bring them to an energy efficiency standard with lower associated carbon emissions, by finding the most efficient way to refurbish them. A 1930’s replica three bed semi-detached house analyzed in this study is located in the University of Nottingham campus and is fully monitored, including monitoring of the occupants patterns, environmental monitoring, electricity use and energy associated with space and hot water heating. This paper analyses techniques used for tracking computing technologies in everyday domestic settings. A Real Time Occupancy Monitoring System using ultra wideband (UW) radio frequency (RF) is used in this study to track person’s location within the research house. The results presented in this paper shows that energy consumption profiles are related to the occupants and their profiles. The data also depends on the outside weather conditions and occupants’ behaviour. The study shows that it is not enough just to improve building performance in order to improve energy efficiency; it is also important to understand and influence occupant behaviour, due to the fact that in domestic buildings the occupants exert complete control of the appliances, lights, heating, and ventilation. The results of this study suggest that general behavioural trends and patterns can be extracted from long-term collected data. This systematic study could benefit the existing housing stock in the UK by applying the same methods used in the research house.

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Space Use in a Dwelling Using RFID Tracking

Abstract The UK housing industry stands accused of delivering homes that are overly expensive, environmentally unsustainable and deficient in number (Barker, 2004). To resolve the proclaimed shortage—primarily the result of demographic changes within households (Office for National Statistics, 2006)—the Government intends that the number of annual new additions in England by 2016 will have increased by a third to 200,000. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has stated that post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is the preferred means to assess how well these new homes meet the changing lifestyle needs of consumers and whether effective use is being made of the limited land resources (CABE, 2005). However, a standard approach for housing POE is yet to be developed. This paper describes a project in which a households occupancy of each room in a dwelling was discreetly collected using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking system. This gave a temporal portrayal of how each space was used, occasionally contradicting the beliefs of the household. It is proposed that repeated studies like this could enable a POE database to be established that would make generalized conclusions possible. Alternatively, selective in-depth case studies could inform the line of questioning taken in traditional survey methods for gathering mass consumer opinions.

Refurbishing the UK's 'hard to treat' dwelling stock: Understanding challenges and constraints - the work of Project CALEBRE

Project CALEBRE (Consumer Appealing Low Energy technologies for Building REtrofitting) is a four year £2 million E.ON/RCUK funded project that is investigating technologies and developing solutions for the UK’s solid-wall houses to offer energy demand reduction, energy efficient heat generation and energy management combined with user appeal. Understanding how technical solutions can be aligned with householder lifestyles is central to the CALEBRE project. The technologies include: vacuum glazing to achieve exceptionally low U-values whilst being capable of retrofit in existing window frames; advanced gas and electric air source heat pumps that operate at the temperatures needed for integration with existing domestic radiator systems; innovative surface materials for buffering moisture, humidity and temperature; retrofit mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to manage ventilation and its associated heat loss. The technologies are being trialled in facilities that include the University of Nottingham E.ON 2016 House, a highly instrumented replica construction of a1930s dwelling. Alongside development and trialling, business case modelling of technologies is being conducted to establish mass roll-out strategies, as well as modelling to identify bespoke packages of measures for house refurbishment. This paper introduces Project CALEBRE, its content and scope, and reports some of its initial findings to highlight the challenges and constraints involved in the process of refurbishing the UK’s domestic stock.

Analysis of a PHDC (Passive and Hybrid Downdraft Cooling) Experimental Facility in Seville and its Applicability to the Madrid Climate

Abstract The potential application of Passive and Hybrid Downdraught Cooling to residential buildings is explored using an experimental facility constructed and tested in Seville, Spain. The experiment was devised as a prototype of the downdraught evaporative cooling system for the Nottingham University entry to the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe competition. The experiment shows that peak evaporative cooling is obtained with an airflow rate of 2000 m3/hour (about 25 air changes per hour) and an evaporation rate of 8 L/h of water. The resulting indoor temperature in the space can be from 1 to 2 degrees above the inlet temperature. Wind forces can improve the performance but are not reliable and the air supply inlet should therefore be baffled to prevent negative impacts. Naturally driven evaporative cooling requires a control system which can vary the water supply rate in response to changing internal and external conditions. The use of exhaust fans can provide reliable performance, irrespective of external wind pressures, which suggests that a hybrid system (a combination of naturally and fan driven airflow) will be more robust in responding to variable conditions.

Structural parameters study of a tubular solid oxide fuel cell

An electrochemical model of a tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been developed with given geometry and material properties. The model includes an evaluation of ohmic, activation and concentration polarization. The effects of two structural parameters such as the thickness of electrolyte and the pore size on the model predictions are discussed. Results show that the ohmic loss is the biggest one among the three losses and decreasing the thickness of electrolyte or increasing the value of mean pore radius leads to an increase of power output of the SOFC.

Incorporating mass transfer theory to model continuous flow type photocatalytic reactors for integration into novel low energy ventilation systems

This study investigates the influence of species mass transfer on the overall reaction rate of a photocatalytic system, where reaction kinetics is described by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism. The system under consideration is a flat plate continuous flow type photoreactor, utilising immobilised TiO 2 photocatalyst, with a gas feed of dilute propene and oxygen in Argon. To study the photodegradation of propene, a model is first developed for forced convection at low rates, applying the mass-heat transfer analogy and Chapman-Enskog kinetic theory for bimolecular diffusion, and then incorporated within the L-H mechanism. The model is validated using experimental data and developed further to investigate the influence of geometric parameters and temperature on the reaction rate. The application of the model is then discussed and proposed as an effective means for the analysis of photocatalytic reactors within heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for the reduction in both airborne pollutants and energy consumption.

The Application of Phase Change Materials to Improve the Climate Resilience of a Low-Energy Prototype House

Due to a number of reasons including the effects of climate change and a shift towards a more widespread use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) for housing development, overheating issues in British homes has become a greater concern in recent years. Some of the most important advantages of MMC are the reduced use of materials, reduced construction time (particularly on site), reduced weather dependency, reduction of waste production, the possibility of reuse and recycling of components, and the possible lightness of the structure. MMC systems can deliver highly insulated, almost airtight homes, in line with requirements to reduce energy use for heating. However, they will generally have lower thermal mass than traditional construction and hence be less able to passively control temperature swings in warmer periods. This may contribute to uncomfortably high temperatures, which can affect the well-being and health of the occupants.

Using a RTL System Based on RFID Technology for Monitoring Occupants Domestic Energy Use and Behaviour

Over the last decade people have become more aware of environmental issues due to the fact that these have been brought to their attention by media, politicians and researchers. Even though the public is more aware of the energy issue, this will not necessarily result in changes in the way people use energy. Therefore it is important to understand individual occupant behaviour and find solutions to influence their behaviour at a national level in order to reduce carbon emissions from existing buildings. The motivation of this study is to gain an understanding of how occupancy sensors can be used for tracking occupants’ patterns and to determine their activities within domestic buildings.Occupancy patterns in a test house are analysed using a real time location (RTL) system based on ultra wideband (UWB) radio frequency (RF) to track location and spatial relationship. Occupants’ activities were deducted from their profiles and energy consumption and it was found that the energy consumption profiles are related to the occupants.