VIRTUAL REALITY: A PROMISING APPROACH FOR LIGHTING RESEARCH

Virtual Reality (VR) seems a promising tool in lighting field, both for design and research applications. Despite several studies have been conducted on this topic, the opinions about the actual advantages of VR are conflicting. It is not clear if VR software are able to properly simulate spatial light distribution, and if the luminous sensation reproduced in Virtual Reality is representative of the real one. The paper revises the literature about the topic and then tests the reliability of a VR simulation software, Unreal Engine (UE), in calculating light. To do that, illuminance measurements were performed in a test room and the obtained values were compared with those calculated with both UE and DIVA for Rhinoceros. Results demonstrated that the percentage differences between the UE’s and the real values range from -2% to 5% and those between UE and DIVA from -4% to 0%.

Reduction of Energy Consumption for Tire Test Room

This article presents a software-implemented 3-dimensional simulated analysis of a 4-tire test room and the 6-tire test room. The results of the average performance through the simulated analysis of 100 iterations were obtained. The simulation showed the temperature distribution in the test rooms. This objective of this study was to assess the efficiency of the start-up process in each test room and to find the most efficient setup. A promising improvement would be to install the heaters at the bottom of the room under the drums instead of at the ceiling. The results of the simulation will be compared to the data of temperature logging of the tire test rooms once there is availability upon the lifting of the Covid pandemic lockdown restrictions.

Performance of Calcium Chloride and Silica Gel as Solid Desiccant Dehumidifiers for Indoor Air Quality

Desiccant materials are recently discovered as a viable alternative in dehumidification technology due to their naturally hygroscopic qualities and minimal energy requirement. This paper discusses the performance of four brand samples of selected desiccants used for dehumidification. In this study, dehumidification ability and indoor air quality (IAQ) tests were carried out. The dehumidification ability test was conducted in a controlled environmental chamber at a temperature of 25°C, relative humidity of 70%, and air velocity of 2 m/s for 45-minute session. Meanwhile, the IAQ test was carried out in a naturally ventilated test room, and six IAQ parameters (relative humidity, air velocity, air temperature, particulate matter (PM10), airborne bacteria and carbon dioxide (CO2) were studied. The IAQ test was performed for five different conditions: control, application of brand samples A, B, C and D in the test room. From this study, it was found, brand A (0.6823 g/kg) and brand B (0.6849 g/kg) had a relatively good dehumidification ability during the 45-minute dehumidification ability test compared to brand C (0.3108 g/kg) and brand D (0.3982 g/kg). The IAQ test revealed that brand A had the biggest variation in indoor-outdoor relative humidity of 13.12%, while brand D had the smallest difference of 11.83%. Brand B had the highest average PM10 concentration of 0.037 μg/m3. The airborne bacterial count for all conditions had no statistical significance, indicating the application of desiccants were not effective in reducing airborne bacteria. From this study, it can be concluded that calcium chloride (brand A and B) samples performed better than silica gel (brand C and D) samples in terms of dehumidification ability and IAQ profile.

Phase Change Materials for building envelopes in Reunion Island, France

This study is being conducted to evaluate the effects of Phase Change Materials (PCM) on thermal comfort in buildings in Reunion Island. Experimental and numerical approaches are used to determine the criteria for the integration of bio-based PCM. A full-scale platform is divided into two rooms, where a layer of PCM is applied to one surface of the test room. Results show that the application of PCM delays the temperature rises and its maximum is reduced by up to 4 degrees. Finally, the experimental results are compared to those of a Dynamic Thermal Simulation (DTS) program to evaluate the ability of such programs to predict the thermal behavior of the building with and without PCM.

The Use of Key Enabling Technologies in the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings Monitoring, Control and Intelligent Management

The 2018 revision of the European Performance Building Directive (EPBD) requires that from the year 2020 onwards, all new buildings will have to be “nearly zero energy buildings”. It also further promotes smart building technologies, raising awareness amongst building owners and occupants of the value behind building automation. The European Commission also identified, in 2011, Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which provide the basis for innovation in the EU. In the frame of the SUDOKET project, the Solar XXI building was used as a pilot case, as innovative integrated solutions and technologies are monitored and controlled. The objective of this paper is to validate a simulation of the laboratorial test room in EnergyPlus with data obtained experimentally and determine the impact of the control systems on energy needs and on thermal comfort. Two systems, in particular, were studied: the Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) and the earth tubes. Once validated, the simulation of the test room without the systems was created, allowing their impact to be determined. The results show that, for the analysed periods, BIPVs reduced the heating consumption by 22% while also increasing thermal comfort, and the earth tube system would reduce the cooling needs by 97%.

Thermal energy storage property and temperature control performance of phase change materials eutectic mixture nanocomposite

Background: The utilization of high-performance phase change materials (PCMs) that can reversibly store thermal energy is of immense interest and strategy for effective energy conservation and management. Methods: In this work, a new PCM nanocomposite, consisting of a eutectic mixture of stearic acid and n-nonadecane as core and SiO2 as shell, was prepared by direct impregnation method. Additionally, a laboratory scaled test room was designed to investigate the intelligent temperature control function of the nanocomposite in building materials. Results: The optimized nanocomposite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The DSC data demonstrated that the PCMs eutectic mixture content in the stearic acid- n-nonadecane–SiO2 nanocomposite was 52.8 wt.% and the melting temperatures and latent heats of stearic acid - n-nonadecane eutectic mixture and optimized nanocomposite were 45.1 and 44.0 °C, and 163.7 and 86.5 J/g, respectively. Furthermore, the accelerated thermal cycling test confirmed the excellent thermal cycling stability of the nanocomposite after 500 heating-cooling cycles. Moreover, the laboratory scaled test room results showed that the incorporation of the resulting nanocomposite in the gypsum could reduce indoor temperature fluctuation, and the performance was improved with the increase in the mass percentage of the nanocomposite in the gypsum composite. Conclusion: The obtained nanocomposite had good thermal reliability and temperature control performance and thus can be a promising candidate for hi-tech applications in intelligent temperature control and precise thermal management.

Experimental assessment of combining geothermal with conventional air conditioner regarding energy consumption in summer and winter

The objectives of this study is to evaluate the use of geothermal energy combined with conventional air-conditioner (A/C) and its contribution to reducing dependence on electrical energy. Assessment of geothermal sources in Diyala governorate. This experiment includes installing a combined system in the test room. The indoor and outdoor temperatures and relative humidity were calculated, as well as the calculation of borehole temperature, in addition to the energy efficiency ratio (EER) and coefficient of performance (COP) of the systems. The amount of electricity consumption in kWh was calculated. The most important findings in this experiment are: (1) The temperature of the well at a depth of (6m) is almost constant throughout the year, about 24. (2) Using the geothermal system alone in the test-room reduces the average indoor temperature by 8 within one day. (3) Iraq can benefit from the important geothermal energy and its sources, however, its use is still very limited and limited to scientific research only. (4) The experiment proved that the EER and COP of the geothermal system, the combined system and the window-type air-conditioner are 18.9, 9.8, 9.4, 5.54, 1.9 and 1.52 respectively.

Exploration on Research Methods for Exploring Human Response to Luminous Environment with Chromogenic Windows Applied

Chromogenic windows enable both energy-saving and daylighting regulation. However, the human response to the luminous environment affected by them is difficult to test, since their features of dynamic change and tinting automatically. This study explores the research methods, including experimental design and statistical analysis, by literature review and an experiment demonstration. The results show that a proper size of the test room is significant to obtain desired data, and the advanced VR technologies have the potential to be applied for testing these dynamic variables. Bayesian approaches are recommended to be tried and get more accurate interference about the experimental results.

UJI EFEKTIVITAS INFUSA DAUN SIRIH MERAH Piper crocatum ruiz TERHADAP MORTALITAS LARVA Aedes aegypti

Indonesia is known as a dengue-endemic country with an increasing number of cases. Appropriate dengue vector control efforts are needed to control the transmission of this disease effectively and efficiently. Botanical larvicide is one type of dengue vector control which is expected to be an alternative as a substitute for chemical larvicides. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of red betel (Piper crocatum)infusion on the mortality of Ae. aegypti. True experimental design with post-test only with control group was used in this study. The test was carried out by dividing the sample into two groups, including the red betel infusion group and the control group (with aquadest), the observations were carried out for 24 hours. The results of the study showed that the larvacide test of red betel leaf infusion had an effect on 12 to 24 hours, and there was an increase in mortality of Ae. egypti for 24 hours. The humidity of the test room is one of the factors that can affect the results of the study. Abstrak Indonesia dikenal sebagai negara endemis dengue dengan jumlah kasus yang terus meningkat. Appropriate dengue vector control efforts diperlukan untuk mengendalikan penularan penyakit ini secara efektif dan efisien. Larvasida botani merupakan salah satu jenis pengendalian vektor dengue yang diharapkan dapat menjadi alternatif sebagai pengganti larvasida kimia. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui pengaruh infusa sirih merah (Piper crocatum) terhadap mortalitas larva Ae. aegypti. True eksperimen design dengan post test only with control group digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Pengujian dilakukan dengan membagi menjadi dua kelompok sampel, meliputi kelompok infusa sirih merah dan kelompok kontrol (dengan Aquadest), pengamatan dilakukan selama 24 jam. Hasil studi menunjukkan Uji larvasida infusa daun sisrih merah berpengaruh pada 12 sampai dengan 24 jam, dan terdapat peningkatan mortalitas larva Ae. egypti selama 24 jam. Kelembaban ruangan uji menjadi salah satu faktor yang dapat mempengaruhi hasil studi.