Search results for "HTI"
showing 10 items of 828 documents
Optimising the efficiency of olive harvesting considering operator safety
2019
Mechanical-assisted harvesting of olives, which is carried out using hand-held harvesting units that detach the drupes through vibration supplied by electric motor or combustion engines, is a widespread method used in southern Italy. Such machines are able to harvest more than 80% of the overall quantity of olives available per tree in 5–10 min, but their performance is influenced by several factors related to the mechanical characteristics of the device and to the features of the trees. Here the problem of optimising harvesting efficiency whilst minimising the health risks to the operators is investigated, with the aim of demonstrating that it is possible to determine an optimum harvesting…
Different energy balances for the redesign of nearly net zero energy buildings: An Italian case study
2015
Abstract The currently developing concept of a Net Zero Energy Building introduces new challenges and research problems. The calculation of a net zero energy balance is heavily influenced by the energy carrier weighting factors that are chosen, which can deeply influence the future energy market towards adopting specific energy technologies. The following paper proposes an analysis of different definitions and conventions for Net Zero Energy Buildings that employ different calculation methodologies and apply different weighting factors to an Italian case study. The case study, which is called “the Leaf House”, is one of the first examples of a nearly net zero energy building in Italy. A bui…
Experimental validation of the BAC factor method for lighting systems
2017
In the last few years, many buildings have been equipped with Building Automation and Control (BAC) systems. BAC systems can be used to achieve a significant reduction of the electrical consumption and to have all the well acknowledged benefits from the daylight (e.g. occupant comfort, health, well-being and productivity). For this reason, Standard EN 15232 "Energy performance of buildings — Impact of Building Automation, Controls and Building Management" puts into evidence the importance of the presence of BAC and Technical Building Management (TBM) systems, suggests a classification of these systems, explains their main functionalities and presents a simplified method to estimate their im…
A set of indices to assess the real performance of daylight-linked control systems
2017
Abstract The installation of Building Automation Control Systems (BACs) in general is an effective action to achieve relevant energy savings. Commercial BACs, installed in residential or small offices, often include functions of lighting control, acting as Daylight-Linked Control Systems (DLCSs). Nevertheless, because system performance is strictly dependent on different parameters, BAC’s hardware and software configuration and as well as an inaccurate commissioning do not always allow a perfect execution of the desired tasks; therefore, the system could not work as expected. Moreover, it is well known that energy saving potential is specifically related to the variability of the light envi…
A Multifunctional Public Lighting Infrastructure, Design and Experimental Test
2017
Nowadays, the installation of efficient lighting sources and Information and Communications Technologies can provide economic benefits, energy efficiency, and visual comfort requirements. More advantages can be derived if the public lighting infrastructure integrates a smart grid. This study presents an experimental multifunctional infrastructure for public lighting, installed in Palermo. The system is able to provide smart lighting functions (hotspot Wi-Fi, video-surveillances, car and pedestrian access control, car parking monitoring and support for environmental monitoring). A remote control and monitoring platform called “Centro Servizi” processes the information coming from…
An Overview on Solar Shading Systems for Buildings
2014
Abstract In recent years, different types of solar shading devices have been proposed, depending on building orientation, location, window characteristics, etc. They can contribute to improve or worsen building thermal and lighting performances both from an energy and comfort point of view. The present paper reports a critical analysis of some studies that investigate shading devices’ effects on building thermal and/or lighting performances. This article points out the difficulty in comparing the different results given the lack of uniformity between the studies, since they analysed buildings with different characteristics, locations and using various indices. Therefore a protocol to carry …
Glass Surfaces for Benefits of Daylight in Social Housing
2017
Internal environment and appropriate natural lighting of the building interior largely affects the health status and course of treatment of patients with psychiatric diagnoses such as depression, Alzheimer and disorder of functions. In particolar, this paper aims to show how smart glass surfaces, allowing the entry of natural lighting, can better support therapeutic process. It is important to elaborate knowledge for optimized lighting conditions in different healthy populations as well as in patients suffering from visual impairments and circadian rhythm disorders. To contribute to the development of new technologies about smart glass surfaces related to various aspects of light conditions…
Sizing analysis of interior lighting using tubular daylighting devices
2017
Abstract Daylight access and indoor thermal comfort are key issues for high design level of sustainable buildings. In fact, daylight provides energy savings and visual comfort condition that can foster higher productivity and performance. This paper proposes a case study of sizing of daylight devices for zenith light. It enables the decision-making process of the designer to reach high levels of daylight factor. The proposed method is shown with an example of application. For the case study, a room in south of Italy, 24 different solar tunnels configurations and 12 cases with different number of skylights have been evaluated.
An experimental study on relationship between LED lamp characteristics and non image-forming
2017
The general aim of the experimental study, presented in this paper, was that to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of five different types of LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamps, which are nowadays those allowing the highest energy consumption reduction, and the humans non image-forming (NIF) reactions.
Real-time weighting optimization in Chinese Postman Problem
2013
International audience; In this study, based on real-time constraint, an optimization method is proposed for solving the problem of the optimal tour. For that, we will construct a graph containing the real-time state of traffic. The collected data will be used to predict the future state traffic and to give an optimized cost of the tour. This optimization is tested in different sizes of the road networks. The results show that the proposed method is efficient and effective in solving the Chinese Postman Problem in real-time.