1,721,049 research outputs found
Guest Editorial: Energy Efficiency, Building Automation, Metering, and Microgrids in Industrial and Commercial Power Systems
No full textThe papers in this special section examine building automation that incorporates energy management, microgrids, and automated metering. Energy efficiency is one of the most important goals in the design, operation, management, and maintenance of industrial and commercial power systems. Building automation systems and metering systems must be supported by intelligent and networked building controllers for lighting, sun harvesting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; in addition, local power generation, storage systems and controllable loads significantly contribute to energy conservation and cost-effective planning in industrial and commercial facilities by realizing a requirement-based energy use
Improving road tunnel resilience by dynamic risk analysis
No full textDue to the accidental events occurred in Mont Blanc, Tauern and St. Gotthard tunnels, the European political response and the engineering technique, safety in tunnels has become a central and complex issue involving: users’ behavior, infrastructure characteristics (construction typology, escape routes, portals), and operational characteristics, such as type and functioning of the equipment installed, including safety measures (fire prevention, ventilation, lighting).
The complexity of an underground structure – environment, planning and construction, safety design, operation and management procedures – and the fast technological advancement have led to the concept of the “tunnel system”. Technological innovations have led to the tunnel concept evolution from civil works to technological infrastructure, where the installed technology overcomes the geometric-functional limits, increasing its operating capacity.
The Smart Tunnel idea comes from the achievement of Industry 4.0, in which there is a strong industrial automation that integrates the most innovative technologies in order to improve the operating and safety conditions and increase the equipment productivity and quality. Smart Tunnel allows optimal tunnel management during operation and in emergency situations thanks to the installation of traditional and technological sensors and the real-time assessment of tunnels’ safety level, as a function of climatic conditions, traffic data and equipment state, in accordance with the European and Italian law.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the fundamental principles of SCADRA (Supervisory Control Acquisition and Dynamic Risk Analysis) system, developed and implemented thanks to EURAM methodology and software, which assessed the risk of over 600 Italian road tunnel tubes
AI & Smart Tunnel: Improving road tunnel resilience by dynamic and predictive risk analysis
No full textSmart Tunnels and Dynamic Risk Analysis
No full textItaly has an extraordinary formation of its terrain varying from mountains to plains. In order to have an accessible land connection throughout the country that will facilitate the flow of people and goods, the importance of tunnels in road transportation network enters the scene.
After the accidents occurred between 1999 and 2001 in Mont Blanc tunnel, Tauern tunnel and St. Gotthard tunnel, safety started to be contemplated as a holistic approach. These events have become a critical issue for politicians and for public, pushing the European Commission to establish the Directive 2004/54/EC, that specifically tackles the safety in road tunnels in TERN (Trans-European Road Network) and aims to guarantee a minimum level of safety to the tunnel users.
In Italy, the European Directive was implemented through the Legislative Decree n.264 of the 5th October 2006, with the purpose of guaranteeing a minimum and sufficient safety level for users in all TERN tunnels, defining a series of minimum safety requirements to be implemented in all tunnels longer than 500 m.
The complexity of an underground structure – environment, planning and construction, safety design, operation and management procedures, etc. – and the fast technological advancement have led to the concept of the “tunnel system”.
Due to the accidental events, the European political response and the engineering technique, safety in tunnels has become a central and complex issue involving:
-Users’ behavior in emergency situations;
-Infrastructure characteristics (construction typology, escape routes, portals, etc.);
-Operational characteristics, such as type and functioning of the equipment installed, including safety measures (fire prevention, ventilation, lighting, etc.).
Technological innovations have led to the tunnel concept evolution from civil works to technological infrastructure, where the installed technology overcomes the geometric-functional limits, increasing its operating capacity.
The Smart Tunnel idea comes from the achievement of Industry 4.0, in which there is a strong industrial automation that integrates the most innovative technologies (integrated memories, wireless sensors, integrated actuators and intelligent software), in order to improve the operating and safety conditions and increase the equipment productivity and quality.
The Smart Tunnel allows optimal tunnel management during operation and in emergency situations thanks to the installation of traditional and technological sensors and the real-time assessment of tunnels’ safety level, as a function of climatic conditions, traffic data and equipment state, in accordance with the Legislative Decree 264/06.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the fundamental principles of SCADRA (Supervisory Control Acquisition and Dynamic Risk Analysis) system, developed and implemented thanks to EURAM methodology and software, which assessed the risk of over 600 Italian road tunnel tubes according to the Legislative Decree 264/06.
The SCADRA system was installed in three Italian road tunnels, executing over 130,000 instantaneous risk analyses in real situations and this report illustrates the main results and the considerations that can be drawn for a correct tunnel management during normal operation and emergency situations.
SCADRA system continuously monitors the tunnel state by collecting the variables that can influence the tunnel safety conditions (equipment and structures state, traffic data and environmental parameters) and performing a dynamic risk analysis, quantitative and probabilistic, at regular intervals or due to sudden change in the gathered data. If the level of risk grows towards the unacceptability threshold or in case of anomalous situations (traffic flows increase, equipment deterioration, etc.), SCADRA envisages activating or signaling the safety measures necessary to achieve the safety level required.
This paper aims to present and comment the most significant results obtained and to identify possible future developments, in terms of tunnels’ safety improvement and conservation and tunnels’ maintenance and management.
The SCADRA system is therefore a supplementary prevention and safety measure for the tunnels management, both during normal operation and in emergency conditions, capable of guaranteeing real-time monitoring of the tunnel risk level
Design of a new architecture and simulation model for building automation toward nearly zero energy buildings
No full textUsers' load aggregation, control of smart appliances, and exploitation of thermal inertia of buildings are among key elements to improve the energy demand of buildings, toward the goals of near zero energy buildings. In this paper, we investigated a case study of an existing residential and commercial building with a microgrid and advanced technical and control systems. We have developed a model to simulate loads and the effects of control systems. The results show how increasing the extent of the microgrid and control strategies improves the load profile and energy consumption, also preserving the users' habits and comfort. Via these elements, the concept of near zero energy building can further advance toward a “near zero power building” or “zero-kilometer energy building.
Electrical systems for public lighting with high energy efficiency and high technological content
No full textPublic lighting systems consist in a complex of different technical systems: lighting, electrical, mechanical and electronic. The presence of electrical components and power lines exposed to atmospheric stresses and accessible to all citizens determines a situation of electrical risk that must be managed during the entire life cycle of the system: design, installation and maintenance, in order to guarantee the highest level of safety for all. The paper suggests energy and safety criteria useful for the optimized design of the system andto improve its maintainability. The prospected energy performance of the system can be considered as an important design criterion. The adoption of a class II insulation system needs special requirements for the check of its performance during the life. The paper suggests the adoption of a special smart panel with a special component useful to make the periodic insulation verification
Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS): a Review
No full textThe evolution of the building automation and control systems (BACS) systems presents the challenge of defining new concepts for a clear and unambiguous definition of functionalities. While for traditional electrical systems it is possible to unequivocally infer functionalities from wiring diagrams and component characteristics, in BACS systems this may not be so immediate. A comprehensive description of the functionalities of such systems may require additional descriptors, so as to also consider logical connections among devices, as well as their configurations. Designers of BACS systems must therefore become familiar with software that may be used to properly express the logic functionalities of the system, and be able to provide system integrators with pertinent details for the hardware settings. In BACS, a logical layer (setting and addressing) is superimposed on a physical layer (wiring). The logical layer determines the functionality of the system. Software should allow the implementation of networks parameters with any communication standards (e.g. KNX, proprietary systems, etc.) and be transparent to the designer. This paper critically reviews the state-of-the-art in BACS, and examines major parameters that may be universally applicable to both KNX systems, as well as to proprietary systems with gateway (e.g., Xiaomi, Google Home, etc.). BACS is one of the most important enabling technologies for the creation of microgrids for smart buildings and energy communities
"Energy castles" equalized to strategic structures for disaster recovery in emergency
No full textRural and marginal areas with a low density of buildings and facilities have generally an easily vulnerable service continuity. The earthquake of central Italy in the beginning of 20017 has claimed the need to construct structures equalized to strategic (SES) in emergency, such as schools, churches, hotels and residential sites. These buildings have to play the role of fortified structures and haven for the local community in vulnerable areas, similarly to the historical castles in Europe or the historical forts in USA. This paper highlights the need of organizing a disaster recovery plan (DRP) and a disaster recovery grid (DRG) for these vulnerable areas to build a structure with criteria adequate to the energetic performance in emergency exceeding the normal functions and it presents a case study of a school qualified as SES
Stand-alone LED lighting system powered by PV and battery: electrical overall performance analysis of a case study
No full textIn the present article an innovative street lighting system with solar PV and battery as the source of electricity was monitored and analyzed considering a case study installed in Italy center. A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is used together with a dimmer control system. This application is new because high efficiency PV cells are applied to the cylindrical surface of the pole: monocrystalline cells have diodes able to bypass the cells that are not directly irradiated by sun to allow the best performance of the PV. The data of this solution were monitored for one year in terms of LED consumptions, current, voltage, PV power, and charging-discharging performance of the battery. These electricity parameters were hourly investigated considering different boundary conditions (weather parameters). These results allow to propose different optimization strategies in terms of scheduling and management of the system related to all the electrical components. The best sizing of the PV and the optimal scheduling profile were proposed based on the experimental and numerical analysis
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