F. Salamone | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) (original) (raw)

Papers by F. Salamone

Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings, Dec 21, 2022

The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a school bui... more The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a school building in Tirana. Included in the Bilateral Agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the research is based on environmental analysis, collection of data from monitoring of environmental variables and students' feedback. The monitoring of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) was carried out with a nearable Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) for IEQ purposes, designed and developed by ITC-CNR based on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) philosophy. The proliferation of the maker movement philosophy has promoted the diffusion of DIY-based technologies. The spread of this movement is observed outside schools but there is a growing interest among educators to introduce this philosophy in the students' education, approaching to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) in a different and more stimulating way. The application of two nEMoS devices in two classrooms (in different locations) aroused the curiosity of students, bringing them closer to the world of technology with a practical example. It also increased their awareness about the overall IEQ conditions in the classrooms where they spend a considerable part of their lives.

IOP conference series, Oct 23, 2019

The scientific community, along with the worldwide governments, debate about the performances of ... more The scientific community, along with the worldwide governments, debate about the performances of buildings for decades and today the subject is still of topical interest. The recent regulatory framework requires increasingly high energy-efficient buildings in order to reduce the overall impact of building sector and to improve the user's well-being. Several stakeholders are called upon to contribute to this end. The collaboration between the professional, industrial and scientific sectors is an engine of this challenge. Following this path, the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) has recently developed a zero energy laboratory with the aim of creating the best platform where companies of the building sector and research bodies can share their expertise for the development and the test of products and systems to reach the Zero Energy Building (ZEB) standard. The paper focuses on the design and testing phases of the laboratory. High performance envelope, efficient HVAC and renewable energy systems are the technical pillars of the laboratory. Several characterization tests have been carried out in order to choose the most suitable technical solutions. The integrated solutions (products and systems) are tested through a continuous monitoring: energy and the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) variables measurements are performed.

Energy Procedia, 2017

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019

Energy efficiency of buildings is a critical issue for international and national policy. The Eur... more Energy efficiency of buildings is a critical issue for international and national policy. The European Directives provide strict requirements for buildings, imposing the near Zero Energy Building (nZEB) standard for new or refurbished public and private buildings starting from 2018 and 2020, respectively. Furthermore, Zero Energy Building (ZEB) is a recognized as a standard in order to improve the energy efficiency of the building sector. The collaboration of the professional and industrial sectors along with the scientific research allows to face these challenges. Within a research project, called I-ZEB, a ZEB test-laboratory where the stakeholders can test their solutions is designed and developed. The facility is designed in compliance with ZEB standard and is suitable for performing researches on new building technologies and their interaction with the built environment. The paper describes the design, the testing and the validation phases of the facility. High performing envelo...

Energy Procedia, 2017

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Jan 17, 2018

Thermal comfort has become a topic issue in building performance assessment as well as energy eff... more Thermal comfort has become a topic issue in building performance assessment as well as energy efficiency. Three methods are mainly recognized for its assessment. Two of them based on standardized methodologies, face the problem by considering the indoor environment in steady-state conditions (PMV and PPD) and users as active subjects whose thermal perception is influenced by outdoor climatic conditions (adaptive approach). The latter method is the starting point to investigate thermal comfort from an overall perspective by considering endogenous variables besides the traditional physical and environmental ones. Following this perspective, the paper describes the results of an in-field investigation of thermal conditions through the use of nearable and wearable solutions, parametric models and machine learning techniques. The aim of the research is the exploration of the reliability of IoT-based solutions combined with advanced algorithms, in order to create a replicable framework fo...

Energy Procedia, 2016

The article describes the application of an object, called Smart lamp, for the control of the the... more The article describes the application of an object, called Smart lamp, for the control of the thermal comfort in real working conditions, implemented following the Do IT Yourself (DIY) approach, using a microcontroller, low cost sensors and a 3D printer. The idea beyond the Smart lamp is the concept of smart environments in which sensors and actuators interact each other with the aim of improving the human well-being. The device that upgrades in a "smart" way a commercial desk lamp usually available in offices, allows to optimize the indoor thermal comfort and the energy consumption, by interacting directly with the heat pump. In order to evaluate in a 4-person office the thermal comfort and the energy consumption improvements due to the better management of the cooling system a Smart lamp was tested. The results showed how the application of this device effectively has optimized the thermal comfort and the energy consumption.

Buildings

A thermohygrometer is an instrument that is able to measure relative humidity and air temperature... more A thermohygrometer is an instrument that is able to measure relative humidity and air temperature, which are two of the fundamental parameters to estimate human thermal comfort. To date, the market offers small and low-cost solutions for this instrument, providing the opportunity to bring electronics closer to the end-user and contributing to the proliferation of a variety of applications and open-source projects. One of the most critical aspects of using low-cost instruments is their measurement reliability. This study aims to determine the measurement performance of seven low-cost thermohygrometers throughout a 10-fold repeatability test in a climatic chamber with air temperatures ranging from about −10 to +40 °C and relative humidity from approximately 0 to 90%. Compared with reference sensors, their measurements show good linear behavior with some exceptions. A sub-dataset of the data collected is then used to calculate two of the most used indoor (PMV) and outdoor (UTCI) comfor...

Proceedings, 2017

The "Smart" concept applied to the cities intends to improve different fields of the urban contex... more The "Smart" concept applied to the cities intends to improve different fields of the urban context and in particular the life quality of citizens. An important part of the overall well-being is the urban comfort, defined as a function of some environmental parameters. The knowledge and the widespread collection of the geospatial information allow the implementation of a model able to estimate the urban comfort level. In this respect, a dynamic monitoring system was developed following the Do It Yourself (DIY) approach that allow to collect and send data to a cloud server. The article describes the implementation phases of the device, a first experimental application conducted in Milan and a critical analysis of this approach.

Sensors, 2017

nEMoS (nano Environmental Monitoring System) is a 3D-printed device built following the Do-It-You... more nEMoS (nano Environmental Monitoring System) is a 3D-printed device built following the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach. It can be connected to the web and it can be used to assess indoor environmental quality (IEQ). It is built using some low-cost sensors connected to an Arduino microcontroller board. The device is assembled in a small-sized case and both thermohygrometric sensors used to measure the air temperature and relative humidity, and the globe thermometer used to measure the radiant temperature, can be subject to thermal effects due to overheating of some nearby components. A thermographic analysis was made to rule out this possibility. The paper shows how the pervasive technique of additive manufacturing can be combined with the more traditional thermographic techniques to redesign the case and to verify the accuracy of the optimized system in order to prevent instrumental systematic errors in terms of the difference between experimental and actual values of the above-mentioned environmental parameters.

Sensors, 2015

The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost contr... more The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost control system for a forced circulation solar plant in an outdoor test cell located near Milan. Such a system provides for the use of an electric pump for the circulation of heat transfer fluid connecting the solar thermal panel to the storage tank. The running plant temperatures are the fundamental parameter to evaluate the system performance such as proper operation, and the control and management system has to consider these parameters. A solar energy-powered wireless-based smart object was developed, able to monitor the running temperatures of a solar thermal system and aimed at moving beyond standard monitoring approaches to achieve a low-cost and customizable device, even in terms of installation in different environmental conditions. To this end, two types of communications were used: the first is a low-cost communication based on the ZigBee protocol used for control purposes, so that it can be customized according to specific needs, while the second is based on a Bluetooth protocol used for data display.

Sensors, 2015

The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of the environment in relation to th... more The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of the environment in relation to the health and well-being of the occupants. It is a holistic concept, which considers several categories, each related to a specific environmental parameter. This article describes a low-cost and open-source hardware architecture able to detect the indoor variables necessary for the IEQ calculation as an alternative to the traditional hardware used for this purpose. The system consists of some sensors and an Arduino board. One of the key strengths of Arduino is the possibility it affords of loading the script into the board's memory and letting it run without interfacing with computers, thus granting complete independence, portability and accuracy. Recent works have demonstrated that the cost of scientific equipment can be reduced by applying open-source principles to their design using a combination of the Arduino platform and a 3D printer. The evolution of the 3D printer has provided a new means of open design capable of accelerating self-directed development. The proposed nano Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) instrument is shown to have good reliability and it provides the foundation for a more critical approach to the use of professional sensors as well as for conceiving new scenarios and potential applications.

Energy consumption of buildings has grown in parallel with the improvement of the lifestyle of th... more Energy consumption of buildings has grown in parallel with the improvement of the lifestyle of the occupants. This growth in consumption of housing affects the environmental and ecological conditions. Today, the main challenge is to increase the awareness of users, by maintaining elevated lifestyle, on the one hand, and educing consumptions so as to minimize the impact on the environment, on the other hand. In a construction sector constantly looking for new technologies for energy saving and energy efficiency, the role of the end user becomes crucial for the optimal management and responsible use of resources. The operating conditions of the macro “building-plant-users” system are determined or verified by methods of the energy performance calculation shown in European Standard, EN 15603:2008. These methods have a different degree of detail depending on the purpose: the standard calculation methods, used in energy certification, are useful to evaluate the energy condition of the bu...

Opto-Electronics Review, 2015

Energy efficiency and reduction of building consumption are deeply felt issues both at Italian an... more Energy efficiency and reduction of building consumption are deeply felt issues both at Italian and international level. The recent regulatory framework sets stringent limits on energy performance of buildings. Awaiting the adoption of these principles, several methods have been developed to solve the problem of energy consumption of buildings, among which the simplified energy audit is intended to identify any anomalies in the building system, to provide helpful tips for energy refurbishments and to raise end users’ awareness. The Energy Signature is an operational tool of these methodologies, an evaluation method in which energy consumption is correlated with climatic variables, representing the actual energy behaviour of the building. In addition to that purpose, the Energy Signature can be used as an empirical tool to determine the real performances of the technical elements. The latter aspect is illustrated in this article.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Italy was the first country in Europe to enter lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic. Most employees... more Italy was the first country in Europe to enter lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic. Most employees have been forced to adopt a work at home solution to avoid any possibility of spreading the virus. The article presents the results of a survey carried out in March-June 2020, during the first lockdown in Italy, aimed at investigating how people perceive the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) of their households during working from home. The questionnaire consists in a general section reporting information about participant, households and rooms where they perform the working activities; a specific section reporting feedbacks on each IEQ aspects (thermal, visual comfort, air and acoustic quality), overall comfort, productivity and other external variables that can affect users’ well-being during working hours. A total of 330 participants from all over the Italian territory signed the consent to participate in the survey over a period of about 3 months. The dataset was used to define the...

The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which is rapidly increasing the number of network-connect... more The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which is rapidly increasing the number of network-connected and interconnected objects, could have a far-reaching impact in identifying the link between human health, well-being, and environmental concerns. In line with the IoT concept, many commercial wearables have been introduced in recent years, which differ from the usual devices in that they use the term “smart” alongside the terms “watches”, “glasses”, and “jewellery”. Commercially available wearables aim to enhance smartphone functionality by enabling payment for commercial items or monitoring physical activity. However, what is the trend of scientific production about the concept of wearables regarding environmental monitoring issues? What are the main areas of interest covered by scientific production? What are the main findings and limitations of the developed solution in this field? The methodology used to answer the above questions is based on a systematic review. The data were ac...

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and ...

Proceedings

The hygro-thermal comfort (ICQ) is defined as the psychophysical state in which the subject expre... more The hygro-thermal comfort (ICQ) is defined as the psychophysical state in which the subject expresses a condition of well-being with respect to environmental variables, a condition known as thermal neutrality. Furthermore, the ICQ represents one pillar of the holistic concept of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). The methods for the assessment of ICQ and recognized at international level are mainly two. The former, based on a steady-state approach, described by the EN ISO 7730:2005 and applied to Fully Mechanically Controlled buildings (FMC) equipped with an active conditioning system. The latter, based on an adaptive approach, as defined trough in field activities and described by the technical standard ASHRAE 55 and EN 15,251, instead, considers the users as active subjects that interact with surrounding environment and are influenced in their comfort perception by external conditions. In this case, the thermal comfort concept is not just defined depending on physical, but al...

E3S Web of Conferences

Personal Thermal Comfort models differ from the steady-state methods because they consider person... more Personal Thermal Comfort models differ from the steady-state methods because they consider personal user feedback as target value. Today, the availability of integrated “smart” devices following the concept of the Internet of Things and Machine Learning (ML) techniques allows developing frameworks reaching optimized indoor thermal comfort conditions. The article investigates the potential of such approach through an experimental campaign in a test cell, involving 25 participants in a Real (R) and Virtual (VR) scenario, aiming at evaluating the effect of external stimuli on personal thermal perception, such as the variation of colours and images of the environment. A dataset with environmental parameters, biometric data and the perceived comfort feedbacks of the participants is defined and managed with ML algorithms in order to identify the most suitable one and the most influential variables that can be used to predict the Personal Thermal Comfort Perception (PTCP). The results iden...

Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings, Dec 21, 2022

The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a school bui... more The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a school building in Tirana. Included in the Bilateral Agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the research is based on environmental analysis, collection of data from monitoring of environmental variables and students' feedback. The monitoring of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) was carried out with a nearable Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) for IEQ purposes, designed and developed by ITC-CNR based on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) philosophy. The proliferation of the maker movement philosophy has promoted the diffusion of DIY-based technologies. The spread of this movement is observed outside schools but there is a growing interest among educators to introduce this philosophy in the students' education, approaching to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) in a different and more stimulating way. The application of two nEMoS devices in two classrooms (in different locations) aroused the curiosity of students, bringing them closer to the world of technology with a practical example. It also increased their awareness about the overall IEQ conditions in the classrooms where they spend a considerable part of their lives.

IOP conference series, Oct 23, 2019

The scientific community, along with the worldwide governments, debate about the performances of ... more The scientific community, along with the worldwide governments, debate about the performances of buildings for decades and today the subject is still of topical interest. The recent regulatory framework requires increasingly high energy-efficient buildings in order to reduce the overall impact of building sector and to improve the user's well-being. Several stakeholders are called upon to contribute to this end. The collaboration between the professional, industrial and scientific sectors is an engine of this challenge. Following this path, the Construction Technologies Institute (ITC) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) has recently developed a zero energy laboratory with the aim of creating the best platform where companies of the building sector and research bodies can share their expertise for the development and the test of products and systems to reach the Zero Energy Building (ZEB) standard. The paper focuses on the design and testing phases of the laboratory. High performance envelope, efficient HVAC and renewable energy systems are the technical pillars of the laboratory. Several characterization tests have been carried out in order to choose the most suitable technical solutions. The integrated solutions (products and systems) are tested through a continuous monitoring: energy and the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) variables measurements are performed.

Energy Procedia, 2017

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019

Energy efficiency of buildings is a critical issue for international and national policy. The Eur... more Energy efficiency of buildings is a critical issue for international and national policy. The European Directives provide strict requirements for buildings, imposing the near Zero Energy Building (nZEB) standard for new or refurbished public and private buildings starting from 2018 and 2020, respectively. Furthermore, Zero Energy Building (ZEB) is a recognized as a standard in order to improve the energy efficiency of the building sector. The collaboration of the professional and industrial sectors along with the scientific research allows to face these challenges. Within a research project, called I-ZEB, a ZEB test-laboratory where the stakeholders can test their solutions is designed and developed. The facility is designed in compliance with ZEB standard and is suitable for performing researches on new building technologies and their interaction with the built environment. The paper describes the design, the testing and the validation phases of the facility. High performing envelo...

Energy Procedia, 2017

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Jan 17, 2018

Thermal comfort has become a topic issue in building performance assessment as well as energy eff... more Thermal comfort has become a topic issue in building performance assessment as well as energy efficiency. Three methods are mainly recognized for its assessment. Two of them based on standardized methodologies, face the problem by considering the indoor environment in steady-state conditions (PMV and PPD) and users as active subjects whose thermal perception is influenced by outdoor climatic conditions (adaptive approach). The latter method is the starting point to investigate thermal comfort from an overall perspective by considering endogenous variables besides the traditional physical and environmental ones. Following this perspective, the paper describes the results of an in-field investigation of thermal conditions through the use of nearable and wearable solutions, parametric models and machine learning techniques. The aim of the research is the exploration of the reliability of IoT-based solutions combined with advanced algorithms, in order to create a replicable framework fo...

Energy Procedia, 2016

The article describes the application of an object, called Smart lamp, for the control of the the... more The article describes the application of an object, called Smart lamp, for the control of the thermal comfort in real working conditions, implemented following the Do IT Yourself (DIY) approach, using a microcontroller, low cost sensors and a 3D printer. The idea beyond the Smart lamp is the concept of smart environments in which sensors and actuators interact each other with the aim of improving the human well-being. The device that upgrades in a "smart" way a commercial desk lamp usually available in offices, allows to optimize the indoor thermal comfort and the energy consumption, by interacting directly with the heat pump. In order to evaluate in a 4-person office the thermal comfort and the energy consumption improvements due to the better management of the cooling system a Smart lamp was tested. The results showed how the application of this device effectively has optimized the thermal comfort and the energy consumption.

Buildings

A thermohygrometer is an instrument that is able to measure relative humidity and air temperature... more A thermohygrometer is an instrument that is able to measure relative humidity and air temperature, which are two of the fundamental parameters to estimate human thermal comfort. To date, the market offers small and low-cost solutions for this instrument, providing the opportunity to bring electronics closer to the end-user and contributing to the proliferation of a variety of applications and open-source projects. One of the most critical aspects of using low-cost instruments is their measurement reliability. This study aims to determine the measurement performance of seven low-cost thermohygrometers throughout a 10-fold repeatability test in a climatic chamber with air temperatures ranging from about −10 to +40 °C and relative humidity from approximately 0 to 90%. Compared with reference sensors, their measurements show good linear behavior with some exceptions. A sub-dataset of the data collected is then used to calculate two of the most used indoor (PMV) and outdoor (UTCI) comfor...

Proceedings, 2017

The "Smart" concept applied to the cities intends to improve different fields of the urban contex... more The "Smart" concept applied to the cities intends to improve different fields of the urban context and in particular the life quality of citizens. An important part of the overall well-being is the urban comfort, defined as a function of some environmental parameters. The knowledge and the widespread collection of the geospatial information allow the implementation of a model able to estimate the urban comfort level. In this respect, a dynamic monitoring system was developed following the Do It Yourself (DIY) approach that allow to collect and send data to a cloud server. The article describes the implementation phases of the device, a first experimental application conducted in Milan and a critical analysis of this approach.

Sensors, 2017

nEMoS (nano Environmental Monitoring System) is a 3D-printed device built following the Do-It-You... more nEMoS (nano Environmental Monitoring System) is a 3D-printed device built following the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach. It can be connected to the web and it can be used to assess indoor environmental quality (IEQ). It is built using some low-cost sensors connected to an Arduino microcontroller board. The device is assembled in a small-sized case and both thermohygrometric sensors used to measure the air temperature and relative humidity, and the globe thermometer used to measure the radiant temperature, can be subject to thermal effects due to overheating of some nearby components. A thermographic analysis was made to rule out this possibility. The paper shows how the pervasive technique of additive manufacturing can be combined with the more traditional thermographic techniques to redesign the case and to verify the accuracy of the optimized system in order to prevent instrumental systematic errors in terms of the difference between experimental and actual values of the above-mentioned environmental parameters.

Sensors, 2015

The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost contr... more The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost control system for a forced circulation solar plant in an outdoor test cell located near Milan. Such a system provides for the use of an electric pump for the circulation of heat transfer fluid connecting the solar thermal panel to the storage tank. The running plant temperatures are the fundamental parameter to evaluate the system performance such as proper operation, and the control and management system has to consider these parameters. A solar energy-powered wireless-based smart object was developed, able to monitor the running temperatures of a solar thermal system and aimed at moving beyond standard monitoring approaches to achieve a low-cost and customizable device, even in terms of installation in different environmental conditions. To this end, two types of communications were used: the first is a low-cost communication based on the ZigBee protocol used for control purposes, so that it can be customized according to specific needs, while the second is based on a Bluetooth protocol used for data display.

Sensors, 2015

The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of the environment in relation to th... more The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of the environment in relation to the health and well-being of the occupants. It is a holistic concept, which considers several categories, each related to a specific environmental parameter. This article describes a low-cost and open-source hardware architecture able to detect the indoor variables necessary for the IEQ calculation as an alternative to the traditional hardware used for this purpose. The system consists of some sensors and an Arduino board. One of the key strengths of Arduino is the possibility it affords of loading the script into the board's memory and letting it run without interfacing with computers, thus granting complete independence, portability and accuracy. Recent works have demonstrated that the cost of scientific equipment can be reduced by applying open-source principles to their design using a combination of the Arduino platform and a 3D printer. The evolution of the 3D printer has provided a new means of open design capable of accelerating self-directed development. The proposed nano Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) instrument is shown to have good reliability and it provides the foundation for a more critical approach to the use of professional sensors as well as for conceiving new scenarios and potential applications.

Energy consumption of buildings has grown in parallel with the improvement of the lifestyle of th... more Energy consumption of buildings has grown in parallel with the improvement of the lifestyle of the occupants. This growth in consumption of housing affects the environmental and ecological conditions. Today, the main challenge is to increase the awareness of users, by maintaining elevated lifestyle, on the one hand, and educing consumptions so as to minimize the impact on the environment, on the other hand. In a construction sector constantly looking for new technologies for energy saving and energy efficiency, the role of the end user becomes crucial for the optimal management and responsible use of resources. The operating conditions of the macro “building-plant-users” system are determined or verified by methods of the energy performance calculation shown in European Standard, EN 15603:2008. These methods have a different degree of detail depending on the purpose: the standard calculation methods, used in energy certification, are useful to evaluate the energy condition of the bu...

Opto-Electronics Review, 2015

Energy efficiency and reduction of building consumption are deeply felt issues both at Italian an... more Energy efficiency and reduction of building consumption are deeply felt issues both at Italian and international level. The recent regulatory framework sets stringent limits on energy performance of buildings. Awaiting the adoption of these principles, several methods have been developed to solve the problem of energy consumption of buildings, among which the simplified energy audit is intended to identify any anomalies in the building system, to provide helpful tips for energy refurbishments and to raise end users’ awareness. The Energy Signature is an operational tool of these methodologies, an evaluation method in which energy consumption is correlated with climatic variables, representing the actual energy behaviour of the building. In addition to that purpose, the Energy Signature can be used as an empirical tool to determine the real performances of the technical elements. The latter aspect is illustrated in this article.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Italy was the first country in Europe to enter lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic. Most employees... more Italy was the first country in Europe to enter lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic. Most employees have been forced to adopt a work at home solution to avoid any possibility of spreading the virus. The article presents the results of a survey carried out in March-June 2020, during the first lockdown in Italy, aimed at investigating how people perceive the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) of their households during working from home. The questionnaire consists in a general section reporting information about participant, households and rooms where they perform the working activities; a specific section reporting feedbacks on each IEQ aspects (thermal, visual comfort, air and acoustic quality), overall comfort, productivity and other external variables that can affect users’ well-being during working hours. A total of 330 participants from all over the Italian territory signed the consent to participate in the survey over a period of about 3 months. The dataset was used to define the...

The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which is rapidly increasing the number of network-connect... more The so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which is rapidly increasing the number of network-connected and interconnected objects, could have a far-reaching impact in identifying the link between human health, well-being, and environmental concerns. In line with the IoT concept, many commercial wearables have been introduced in recent years, which differ from the usual devices in that they use the term “smart” alongside the terms “watches”, “glasses”, and “jewellery”. Commercially available wearables aim to enhance smartphone functionality by enabling payment for commercial items or monitoring physical activity. However, what is the trend of scientific production about the concept of wearables regarding environmental monitoring issues? What are the main areas of interest covered by scientific production? What are the main findings and limitations of the developed solution in this field? The methodology used to answer the above questions is based on a systematic review. The data were ac...

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective s... more District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and ...

Proceedings

The hygro-thermal comfort (ICQ) is defined as the psychophysical state in which the subject expre... more The hygro-thermal comfort (ICQ) is defined as the psychophysical state in which the subject expresses a condition of well-being with respect to environmental variables, a condition known as thermal neutrality. Furthermore, the ICQ represents one pillar of the holistic concept of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). The methods for the assessment of ICQ and recognized at international level are mainly two. The former, based on a steady-state approach, described by the EN ISO 7730:2005 and applied to Fully Mechanically Controlled buildings (FMC) equipped with an active conditioning system. The latter, based on an adaptive approach, as defined trough in field activities and described by the technical standard ASHRAE 55 and EN 15,251, instead, considers the users as active subjects that interact with surrounding environment and are influenced in their comfort perception by external conditions. In this case, the thermal comfort concept is not just defined depending on physical, but al...

E3S Web of Conferences

Personal Thermal Comfort models differ from the steady-state methods because they consider person... more Personal Thermal Comfort models differ from the steady-state methods because they consider personal user feedback as target value. Today, the availability of integrated “smart” devices following the concept of the Internet of Things and Machine Learning (ML) techniques allows developing frameworks reaching optimized indoor thermal comfort conditions. The article investigates the potential of such approach through an experimental campaign in a test cell, involving 25 participants in a Real (R) and Virtual (VR) scenario, aiming at evaluating the effect of external stimuli on personal thermal perception, such as the variation of colours and images of the environment. A dataset with environmental parameters, biometric data and the perceived comfort feedbacks of the participants is defined and managed with ML algorithms in order to identify the most suitable one and the most influential variables that can be used to predict the Personal Thermal Comfort Perception (PTCP). The results iden...