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The evaluation of the results and improvements obtained in the ThinkHome project are mainly carried out by means of simulations under MATLAB/Simulink, specifically with HAMLab and RTU building models. Short explanation about these terms are mentioned below (Glossary). Therefore, part of the efforts of the ThinkHome project are oriented to obtain a suitable testbed. This is RTU building
model, an open model (in development phase) intended for the
simulation of building and home control strategies that can easily be
integrated for the testing and evaluation of holistic approaches
(ThinkHome). It includes the simulation of heat, air and
moisture, but also further options like the users' effect
(occupancy, CO2 generation, thermal contribution) and device and
equipment thermal contributions. 
Part of the RTU model (beta version)
Most
of the current avaliable building models and energy simulation tools
are not complete or open enough for the requirements of the ThinkHome
project scope. User effect and behaviour simulation and the capability
of linking and applying advanced control strategies are some of the
usual lacks that justify the development of our own testbed
environment. The infrastructure of the project demands an absolutely
accesible tool from a high-compatible platform like Java. The
thermodynamic equations and models deployed in RTU as a basis are
widely explained in the degree thesis writen by Richard Hofer [1].
Further improvements have been carried out using ASHRAE recomendations
for the desing of moisture loads [2]. · Publications: The
next publications have been carried out using HAMLab or/and RTU
models in the development of the tests. -Christian
Reinisch, Mario J. Kofler, Felix Iglesias, and Wolfgang Kastner.
ThinkHome: Energy Efficiency in Future Smart Homes. EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems, 2011:18, 2011. [ bib | .pdf ]
-Félix Iglesias Vázquez and Wolfgang Kastner. Clustering methods for occupancy prediction in smart home control. In Industrial Electronics (ISIE'11), IEEE International Symposium on, pp. 1321-1328, 27-30 June 2011. [ DOI ] -Félix Iglesias Vázquez, Wolfgang Kastner and Christian Reinisch. Impact of user habits in smart home control. Emerging Technologies & Factory Automation (ETFA), 2011 IEEE 16th Conference on, pp. 1-8, 5-9 Sept. 2011. [ DOI ]
· Glossary: -A computer simulation,
a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or
network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a
particular system. Computer simulations have become a useful part of
mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics (computational
physics), astrophysics, chemistry and biology, human systems in
economics, psychology, social science, and engineering. Simulations can
be used to explore and gain new insights into new technology, and to
estimate the performance of systems too complex for analytical solutions
[3].
-MATLAB®
is a high-level technical computing language and interactive
environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data
analysis, and numeric computation. You can use MATLAB in a wide range of
applications, including signal and image processing, communications,
control design, test and measurement, financial modeling and analysis,
and computational biology. MATLAB provides a number of features for
documenting and sharing your work. You can integrate your MATLAB code
with other languages and applications, and distribute your MATLAB
algorithms and applications [4].
-Simulink®
is an environment for multidomain simulation and Model-Based Design for
dynamic and embedded systems. It provides an interactive graphical
environment and a customizable set of block libraries that let you
design, simulate, implement, and test a variety of time-varying systems,
including communications, controls, signal processing, video
processing, and image processing. Simulink is integrated with MATLAB®,
providing immediate access to an extensive range of tools that let you
develop algorithms, analyze and visualize simulations, create batch
processing scripts, customize the modeling environment, and define
signal, parameter, and test data [5].
-HAMLab
(Heat, Air and Moisture simulation Laboratory) is basically a
collection of tools for the development and evaluation of an integrated
heat, air and moisture simulation environment for modeling and
simulating dynamic heat, air and moisture processes in buildings and
systems. All models are implemented in the computational software
package MatLab with the use of SimuLink and Comsol [6].
-Java®
is a programming language that derives much of its syntax from C and
C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities. Java
applications can run on any Java Virtual Machine (JVM) regardless
of computer architecture. Java is a general-purpose, concurrent,
class-based, object-oriented language that is specifically designed to
have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to
let application developers "write once, run anywhere" [7].
· References: [1]:
Richard Hofer (Diploma Thesis). Untersuchung des Einflusses von
Regelungsstrategien auf den Heizwärmebedarf und die operative
Raumtemperatur bei unterschiedlichen Gebäudestandards. [link] [2]:
Tenwolde, A; Walker, I.S. Interior Moisture Design Loads for
Residences. Proceedings of the ASHRAE/DOE/BTECC Thermal Performance of
Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings VIII, Clearwater Beach, FL,
ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA (2001). [link] [3]: Wikipedia: Computer Simulation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_simulation [4]: MathWorks: Matlab Introduction, http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/description1.html [5]: MathWorks: Simulink Introduction, http://www.mathworks.com/products/simulink/description1.html [6]:
Schijndel, A.W.M. van (2007). Integrated heat air and moisture modeling
and simulation. Eindhoven: Technische Universiteit, PhD thesis, 200
pages. [link1 | link2] [7]: Wikipedia: Java (programming language), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(programming_language)
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