Course Reflection

     When I first signed up for this “Intelligent Buildings” course, I was very intrigued by the name and how it would relate to the class. Throughout the term, we covered four major topics in class: BIM, sensors, databases, and robotics. I feel that Intelligent Buildings are a field I am much more aware of, thanks to the four major topics that we studied. For instance, I learned that BIM is important to intelligent buildings, because of the relationship it creates with the building and the designer. Like Natasha, one of my favorite guest lecturers was Eric of KlingStubbins, because his BIM presentation was really captivating from the beginning. Some of the features that his company are developing, I feel will be integral to the future of on-site design. He introduced a program similar to the Google glasses, which allows one to see different information about buildings. This also linked together the other topics relevant to an intelligent building. BIM is starting to rely more and more on databases that are stored wirelessly via a cloud, which shows the connection between the two.

                Aside from the general connections between certain topics, I like the way the course was ran. Dividing into different groups, like many others stated, was very helpful. Being able to hear someone else’s opinions only benefits us, because we are listening to something new, or  hearing it a different way that makes a topic easier to understand. Like Ben-David mentioned though, although the class was interesting, it would have been better if it was divided into two different sections. I felt that some of the topics would have still been discussed with as much detail, just divided up differently. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and learned a lot about the future of design, BIM.

Flow Sensors

                For the majority of this term, this class has focused on intelligent buildings and new technology. However, as engineers we deal with lots of basic measurements and calculations we encounter in an everyday work environment. An example of these measurements, is the measurement of flow done through the use of flow meters and sensors.  Flow sensors are detecting elements within a flow meter that record the flow of fluids or gases. In the figure below, there’s a variety of flow sensors that measure liquid flow, but  vary in the form of which they measure the flow.

             As can be seen on the left hand side, the rotor in turbine flow meters measures the flow because the rate of the flow causes a proportional movement in the rotary wheel. The rate at which the wheel is spinning, is also the rate of the flow. Magnetic flow meters as can be seen on the bottom right side of the image above, operate on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. This means that the flow meters are triggered by conductive liquids because the flow is measured as a counter reaction to the conductivity. This counter reaction is a voltage that is produced by  a current applied to coils mounted on or outside the flow pipe. The voltage produced is a magnetic field that is proportional to flow rate, an and its measured by electrodes in the system. Thermal flow meters as pictured above (second one down, left hand side) measure mass flow directly. The thermal flow meters measure flow by heating the liquid within, and take the rate at which it takes to dissolve. Other thermal sensors just input heat into a system, and measure the amount of energy used for the system to stay at that temperature. This type of thermal system is more often used for gases, along with multivariable differential pressure transmitters. These type of meters are based on temperature sensors, which measure the heat within the moving medium, along with velocity to calculate the rate.

                 I found it neat that the multivariable differential pressure transmitters, can act as temperature sensors as well. They can measure pressure and temperature , to calculate mass flow. This was really interesting because it shows an overlap within sensors, since the flow meters use resistive temperature detectors (RTDs), which EldaCifligu describes as temperature sensors. Like Matthew Tedesco stated, “aside from mechanical flow meters, fluid velocity and flow can be measured using optic sensors.” None of the meters above show this type of sensor because this “laser-based interferometry is often used for air flow measurement but not for liquid flow.

               

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_sensor

http://www.pc-control.co.uk/flow_sensors.htm

Databases in Design Offices

                 With Building Information Modeling becoming a primary method of design, the industry is changing in terms of what qualities are desired at design firms today. Drafting programs are a fairly new technology being that major programs such as AutoCAD was only introduced in the 90's. Although 20 years might seem long, it’s a fairly small period in terms of how long architectural and engineering design has been around. Along with other major aspects of BIM such as 3-D modeling, and ease of use, the ability to share and distribute models is also essential to these  type of programs.With programs such as Revit becoming more widely used, the ability to upload and download pre-made models has been a big selling point for many companies. Like AutoCAD uses “X-Refs” to link to other AutoCAD files, many BIM programs such as Revit have an internal databasethat can also be updated with online databases.

            
                 A database is described as “an organized collection of data”. In BIM design, databases have preinstalled  information that can be useful when using the program for design. These databases are useful in design offices today because they can save a lot of time when drafting up a floor plan or creating a building model. One of the big benefits of these databases is the ability to work together on one project at different times. As Maria stated, this can be useful when multiple users create independent Architectural, Mechanical, or Structural plans that can later be merged together. Aside from having just plans or certain "entourage" within a building, building costs and materials can also be archived into separate databases. 

            
                Aside from being able to create new models, and share data, databases greatly reduce design time because of the way they're programmed. Databases are used to archive a lot of data, and thus can use key words, or certain identifications that makes finding any type of element or archive, extremely easy. . For example, typically in drafting programs such as AutoCAD, when one would draft plans they would have to  be drawn as lines with proper dimensions. Instead, a door in Revit, can be simply created by loading a “family” stored in Revit’s internal database. A family in Revit can be considered a database on its own because it holds lots of different information about the door such as dimensions, material properties, offsets, and so on. Some of the more up to date BIM databases also have current manufacturers and costs.  As we discussed in class, in the future, the wireless networks and "clouds" will have to be more efficient for the vast amount of data that will be stored in virtual space.

               

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=12&C=838

Term Project: Intelligent and Green Buildings

.                For the term project I plan to study the similarities and differences of  “intelligent” and “green” buildings. Next year for my senior design, I want to research the loading on roofs caused by the components that make it a “green” or “intelligent” building. Green buildings and LEED certifications are becoming very important and idealized in the construction of new buildings in our modern day. There has been a big push towards Green design within the past 10 years, and it’s still a growing field. To my understanding, Green buildings deal with making certain components in a structure more environmentally friendly.  On the other hand, I believe that an intelligent building focus more on making existing components more tactical and useful. I feel that “Green” buildings are a lot more popular then intelligent buildings, yet they share a lot of similarities and differences. Like Ryan Krall also mentioned, people hear the word green and immediately want to implement any changes to their building to make it green even if they don’t understand the full meaning or concept of the word. I still feel that people can relate to a green building more than they can to an “intelligent” building. When one thinks green, we think green roofs, storm water management, green walls, and so on. However like Gayaneh Gulbenkian stated, “everyone has their own definition of what exactly an intelligent building is” and for that reason, it will be harder to summarize and describe it as whole.

                Being that both are fields with lots of areas of research, I plan on focusing  my report on green and intelligent design with respect to roofs. Intelligent roofs can vary and define roofing such as solar panels, cool roofs, or sometimes just a more “intelligent” use of the roof space. A green roof on the other hand can be anything related to storm water management, or sometimes even biowalls that greatly reduce the water runoff. I want to study the effects of hydroponics on these green roofs, to see how it’s a combination of green and intelligent building systems.

Sources:

http://www.supergreenme.com/go-green-environment-eco:Intelligent-Roofs-Save-Energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(geoengineering)

BIM For Architects and Engineers: Future Design

                Although it’s not the most commonly type of design used yet, I believe that BIM is the future of engineering and architectural design.  Since it’s a fairly new technology, many companies already use other design/drafting programs such as AutoCAD which causes problems when trying to implement BIM. Due to the large alteration to files among other deciding factors, BIM can be too expensive for many companies to make a full transition. Once BIM becomes a bit more competitive in its pricing, I am sure that it will become a sole monopoly in any type of design field. This is due to its ease of use, and productivity rate that one is allowed when using the program. 

                Five years from now, I believe that  BIM will be a major form of the design process used for any type of construction. A major reason for this improvement is because of the efficiency of the modeling that  Matthew and Maria also discussed. A big difference is that in former programs such as AutoCAD, a line command simply draws a line, while in a program such as Revit, a line can represent a whole wall. When drawing this wall, there is preset characteristics applied to it, that can be changed or updated upon the users liking. This simple change alone can greatly benefit architects who are trying to come up with a quick design that can be changed before a customer.

                In ten years, I feel that BIM will be close to becoming the sole form of design with regards to any type of construction. This new form of BIM will be commercially available anywhere and will replace AutoCAD from schools. With that being said, I agree with my teammate Rita that there might even be an actual degree in BIM.  BIM has a lot of advantages over current design and in 10 years there’s no doubt that it will take over the construction industry, thus schools will allow for degrees and specialties in the field. A mix of BIM and Computer Sciences might also be a possibility to further develop the program.

                Finally in 20 years, it’s hard to think about how  heavily we will rely on BIM. It’s similar to taking a look back 20 years ago, when the first drafting programs such as AutoCAD were released. Now those programs have exponentially improved and in some ways helped create this new Building Information Modeling. I feel that BIM, might have changed drastically in 20 years, into something more advanced that is easier to use, and perhaps even more productive.

BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors.  Chuck Eastman, Paul Teicholz, Rafael Sacks and Kathleen Liston  Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 http://ascpro.ascweb.org/chair/paper/CPGT182002008.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling

Chapter 5: BIM for Architects & Engineers

Week 3

Brian Vazquez

                For this week’s assignment, we explored the BIM handbook, and more specifically as a group we were asked to read about BIM for Architects and Engineers. Building Information Models, or BIM differs from previous method of drafting and design because it “redistributes the distribution of effort, placing more emphasis on conceptual design.”  Basically, BIM has changed the idea behind software such as AutoCAD that only focuses on a drafting to a more broad approach. With the recent invention of BIM programs such as Revit, a line command does draws a wall with properties as opposed to a simple 2-D line drawn on AutoCAD. Like Jalpesh Patel mentioned, the chapter in the book describes the four major concepts of design using BIM. These concepts are “conceptual design, the integration of engineering services, construction level modeling, and design-construction integration”.

                These concepts developed through time, but to my surprise, date back to the early Renaissance. The Handbook gives a small history lesson in how Leon Battista Alberti “distinguished architectural design from construction” back in 1452. Therefore the chapter also describes in detail the magnificent leaps that design and engineering have acquired within the last century.  The design process is seen in various charts and graphs in the chapter that help explain how the ability to grant more time to design, will create a stronger final structure.  Basically, BIM is greatly reducing the time generally needed for conceptual design and design development, which deals with planning structure, lighting, and so on. Due to BIM’s 3-D capabilities, lots of these steps are predefined, or at least guided, making it easier on the user by having pre solved calculations. A big reason for this big change, and leap, is because of the practicality and simplicity of the product. For example, Google sketchup was first developed as a “easy- to-use” tool but is now widely used for “its functionality that is important for preliminary design.”

                Although certain programs have flourished, BIM has not yet outdone other programs just yet because it’s  a fairly new technology. Like Maria Gabriela Gonzalez stated, implementing the new system would mean training lots of staff, and a whole database transfer to the new program. This could pose an issue for larger companies and be very costly. Overall, I feel that BIM is the future of computational design, and eventually will be implemented into architectural and engineering offices. 

SOURCE: 

BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors.  Chuck Eastman, Paul Teicholz, Rafael Sacks and Kathleen Liston  Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3D Manufacturing Capabilities

                With the 3D printing industry rapidly growing, the limits to 3-D manufacturing limits are constantly being redefined. 3D printing also known as additive manufacturing is “the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model”.  Although the idea of 3D printing began in the 1980s, the term was not officially coined until 1995, where a group of MIT students designed an inkjet printer that extruded a binding solution onto a bed of powder rather than ink onto paper. Since then, 3D printing has been a rapidly growing field because of it’s vast

                Surprisingly, although 3D printing is gearing towards new medical developments such as nano scale objects, there is a big interest in 3-D printing on a much greater scale. In fact, according to Yahoo News, “Behrokh Khoshnevis at the University of Southern California … has figured out a way to build housing with a giant 3D printer.” Yahoo might not be a credible source but this professor has been featured on different sites, and Matthew Tedesco also referenced this scientist.  Of course this would require a large scale printer, that would be bigger than the house its building, and it would build through a concrete layering system called Contour crafting. Although the method of extrusion printing we have now creates a lot of waste, 3D printing is gearing towards precision printing such as Contour crafting. Contour crafting prints objects “as is” without creating any additional waste. The professor believes that this would not only help commercial building be more efficient and less costly, but that this project can extend to even the poor slums and less fortunate societies. Being able to build a house at around 20 hours, can greatly reduce the costs for anyone and increase production rates by an unknown exponential rate.

                I believe that 3D manufacturing is essential to the future of construction and engineering, because at the current rate there’s no limits as to what we can build, and how fast we can build it.The 3D printers already exist, and it's only a matter of time before they're manufactured in a cheap commercial scale. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/3d-printer-could-build-house-20-hours-224156687.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dprinting.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/07/manufacturing-the-future-10-trends-to-come-in-3d-printing/