Remote Sensory System for Building Energy Model Calibration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The construction industry faces challenges in accurately monitoring and reducing energy consumption in built environments due to discrepancies between design phase predictions and actual operational use, largely because of the siloed nature of the industry and the underutilization of building energy models (BEMs), leading to inefficiencies and a lack of coordinated approaches for design, construction, and operation.
Innovation Solution
The JOULEA system, which employs a remote deployable transient sensory system and artificial intelligence to generate a continuously calibrated building energy model (C2 BEM) by collecting real-time data from sensors placed in newly built environments, allowing for immediate feedback and recommendations to improve resource use, and utilizing machine learning to identify energy inefficiencies and optimize energy usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If building energy models (BEMs) are used to predict resource usage in the design phase, then resource consumption can be estimated, but discrepancies of 20% to 50% exist between predicted and actual operational resource use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feedback loops where operational data from sensors and meters is fed back to recalibrate BEMs in real-time. This closes the information loop between design predictions and actual performance, allowing the model to self-correct and reduce the 20-50% discrepancy through iterative refinement based on measured operational data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes BEMs during the design phase with preliminary calibration data, then continuously updates them during construction and operation. This preliminary action creates a baseline model that is progressively refined, ensuring accurate predictions are available from the start while continuing to improve through operational feedback.
2Ease of operation
If the construction industry uses siloed approaches for design, construction, and operation phases, then each phase can be managed independently, but coordination and continuous improvement of energy efficiency are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges previously siloed design, construction, and operation phases into a unified continuous process. By integrating BEM calibration activities across all phases and using a common digital platform, the system maintains phase independence for execution while achieving coordination through shared data and continuous model updates, eliminating the reliability loss from siloed approaches.
3Measurement precision
If remote deployable transient sensory systems are deployed to collect real-time data, then accurate operational data can be gathered, but system complexity and deployment requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs universal sensor platforms that can deploy multiple sensor types (thermal, visual, environmental) on single remote vehicles. This multi-functional approach gathers diverse operational data needed for BEM calibration without proportionally increasing system complexity, as one platform performs multiple measurement functions simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The remote deployable sensory systems are designed to autonomously navigate, collect data, and transmit information without continuous human intervention. This self-service capability reduces operational complexity while maintaining high measurement precision, as the systems independently manage their own deployment and data collection tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments describe a computer-implemented method for design compliance monitoring, comprising obtaining, via a remote deployable transient sensory system, sensory information associated with a built site indicative of a construction feature in the built site, receiving, via a processor, from a remote deployable transient sensory system, the sensory information, comparing the sensory information with an electronic design file indicative of a built site design, and determining, via the processor, and based on the sensory information and the electronic design file, that the construction feature does not comply with a design feature of the electronic design file. The construction feature is associated with energy efficiency of the built site. The method further includes generating, via the processor, a C2 BEM based on the sensory information associated with the built site indicative of the construction feature in the built site.