The energy consumption for heating of buildings has an enormous potential for energy savings, and this has led to increased research in modelling the thermal performance of buildings.
The section has more than 20 years of experience with modelling of thermal dynamical systems with stochastic differential equations. The applications are many types of thermal systems, e.g. solar heating systems, experimental setups for material testing, and buildings.
The main objective, of the current research in modelling of the thermal dynamics of a building, is to obtain information about the thermal characteristics of existing buildings based on online measurements, such as the - Energy consumption used for heating of the building:
- Temperatures inside the building, e.g. from wireless sensors
- Outdoor temperature
- Solar radiation
- Wind speed and direction
The thermal characteristics encompasses:
- The UA-value, a measure of the isolation of the building
- Time constants of the building, a measure how fast the temperatures in the building decays
- Detailed characteristics such as: how airtightness of the building, the amount of solar energy entering the building, UA-value of the different walls and ceiling
The obtained information about the building can be used for several purposes, e.g.:
- Forecasting of the energy consumption of the building
- Making decisions concerning possible thermal improvements to the building
- Control of the indoor climate
- Optimization of the heating system in the building