A framework was established to structure and summarize IoT use cases from current, planned or recently finished projects or market services for heat pumps. With the framework, a consistent description of all important aspect should be achieved, ranging from stakeholders, participants, connection and data requirements, perceived benefits to technological readiness (see Figure 3). Based on the specific use cases and application examples, common patters can be found that will contribute to the descriptions of the different tasks of the Annex. Also, gaps can be discovered. Opportunities and challenges will be elaborated to define guidelines and best practice applications for IoT-enabled features for heat pumps.
Figure: Framework to structure and describe IoT-enabled features for heat pumps (source: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH)
Building Information Modelling (BIM): Was developed to consolidate the large number of different information sources throughout the lifecycle of a building, it consists of one or more digital models, containing geometry and data needed to support the construction, fabrication and procurement activities throughout the realisation, operation and maintenance of the building.
BIM is a modelling technology and an associated set of processes to produce, communicate, and analyse building models, characterized by[1]:
- Building components represented by objects, carrying computable graphic, identification data and parametric rules
- Components that include behaviour descriptions
- Consistent and redundant data
Current research projects focus on the integration of HVAC components in BIM, such as heat pumps or air handling units[2], the combination of real time construction information with BIM to create a digital twin for deviation detection and analytics[3], the use of BIM information to set up building performance simulations[4] and the use of BIM for fault detection for facility management[5]. It was concluded that standardisation is key for efficient data exchange and interoperability and that integrated BIM is not fully realized yet. Further topic to be discussed in the Annex relate to building energy management systems, control strategies for heat pumps and control hierarchy in buildings, as well as information modelling in facility management.
[1]R . Sacks, C. Eastman, G. Lee and P. Teicholz, BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Designers, Engineers, Contractors and Facility Managers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018.
[3] https://www.bimprove-h2020.eu/
[4] https://www.ebc.eonerc.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/qxtv
[5] https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/de/forschungsprojekte/rng-opt.html
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