Final Project

The final topic of the project that my group decided to focus on is “Building Optimization Through the Use of Sensors in W.W. Hagerty Library”. Our main objective is to study the functions of the most common sensors used in the building industry today and their ability to improve the overall efficiency of building operation. The building in focus ended up being the library purely because we felt as though the library in its current state required numerous improvements and a possible redesign. W.W. Hagerty Library is one of the most commonly used and popular buildings on campus that houses numerous study areas, book storage rooms, and lab rooms. We felt that it could become an excellent example of how beneficial the implementation of building automation technologies could be.

The plan is to survey library visitors or any Drexel students who have visited the building for that matter regarding the quality of their overall experience. The designed survey questions are intended to give a feel of how satisfied students are with characteristics like temperature control, humidity levels, noise from HVAC equipment, lighting levels, and any others that could be potentially improved with the use of sensors. The obtained survey results are to be analyzed in order to identify the most prevalent issues of the building operation. The next step will be performing any necessary research, possibly studying relevant case studies of other library buildings, to come up with several design alternatives. These options will be further analyzed based on their cost, efficiency, the ease of maintenance, and etc. Finally, the developed sensor network for Hagerty library will be explained in detail, and its potential benefits and possible drawbacks are going to be discussed.

With the following project, we are hoping to stress the point that no building is an island. It exists in a context of numerous and various externalities that constantly influence its performance. The implementation of sensor network in the library takes control over occupancy levels, lighting, indoor and outdoor climate, performance of HVAC equipment, all the things that characterize the building and influence its efficiency. This promotes extremely efficient “intelligent” building, in which energy usage patterns may be predicted and the performance optimized. 

Looking at other group's projects, it seems that Mike, Nathan, and Jalpesh are going to be focusing on the implementation of sensors as well. However, their topic is closely related to residential application whereas ours is more commercial. The two projects seem to go along nicely though since both of them are more focused on improving the existing construction. This trend that has been emerging over the recent years is even more important and advantageous than the application of sensors in new construction since it is always more sustainable to improve something that already exists than to build something from scratch.