SDB - Software Defined Buildings, UC Berkeley
PECS
Building occupants are largely uncomfortable, even in optimal mean temperature environments, due to the differences in personal preference and pervasive environmental heterogeneity. Personal Comfort Systems (PCS) are capable of maintaining occupant comfort in buildings despite large deviations from recommended "comfortable" temperatures. In the PECS project we built a digitally controlled chair with built in heating and cooling systems that is capable of maintaining occupancy comfort over a very wide range of ambient temperatures. This both improves the occupant experience, and saves energy by allowing less conservative setpoint usage. The digital control system streams real-time telemetry that can be used in control algorithms and building applications providing new methods of comfort and energy efficiency maximization.
Well-connected Microzones for Increased Building Efficiency and Occupant Comfort
Michael P Andersen, Gabe Fierro , Sam Kumar, Joyce Kim, Edward A. Arens, Hui Zhang, Paul Raftery , and David E. Culler. 2016 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Pacific Grove, CA, August 2016. [pdf]
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants CPS-1239552, and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.