Modular personalized climatization testing infrastructure with smartphone-based user feedback

Abstract

Heating and ventilation in buildings and vehicles are responsible for over a third of global final energy usage and the resulting emissions. Local climatization can help to save energy while at the same time enable more individualized and adapted micro-climates around people. For the domain of local comfort, integrative test environments for sensors, actuators, and control software are scarce, and oftentimes tailored to a specific set of components. Here, a server-based modular testing infrastructure which allows integration and evaluation of sensors, actuators, and control strategies is presented. Currently, the system is able to integrate, monitor, and log data of thermal imaging, motion sensing, environmental sensor such as temperature or air velocity and to forward signals to actuators such as fans, infrared- or contact-heaters. The generation of control signals is model-based and relies on user feedback provided via the system’s smartphone app. Lastly, learning algorithms can be trained and compared during user studies. Practical Application: Although developed in a laboratory based research context, the proposed system is based on open standards and protocols. It therefore can be applied by practitioners, developers, and manufacturers in order to test stand-alone components as well as ensembles of sensors and actuators for personalized climatization in an integrative and replicable manner.