Tecomat Foxtrot is part of the CAMEB project - a smart house in Omice
Reference
In Omice near Brno, the construction of a smart house was carried out under the supervision of experts on the quality of the indoor environment from the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB). This building is part of the CAMEB project (Center for Advanced Materials and Efficient Buildings), which brought together scientists, system manufacturers and house investors, and its intention is to look in more detail at the real operation of a family house equipped with the latest technologies.
The aim of the project is to obtain a verified basis and factual arguments for other similar implementations with the help of objective measurement of important indicators and feedback of user satisfaction. Several companies participated in the project. Electric radiant heating was supplied by FENIX Group, battery storage by AERS, photovoltaic power plant by S-Power, and recuperation by WAFE. The Foxtrot control system and the iCOOL4 application program were supplied jointly by Teco, ICT Expert and Axomer.
The project is focused on two basic areas: energy-efficient operation and comfortable indoor environment. It is obvious that both areas in the house intertwine and influence during operation. Therefore, their individual technologies cannot be controlled or managed separately. They must know about themselves at all times, and their individual quantities must be measured and connected by internal logic to the control of each of them.
Our Tecomat Foxtrot control system with the iCOOL4 software application was deployed here. This application, in addition to the proven standardized functions over heating, lighting, blinds or ventilation, integrates also energy centre in this case.
Energy
The basic concept of energy is the maximum use of own energy sources and minimization of its purchase, ie strengthening self-sufficiency. Photovoltaics (PV from S-Power) with an output of 9.8 kWp are installed on the roof. Its surpluses are stored in a battery storage with a capacity of 36 kWh with an integrated hybrid converter with a power of 12 kW (AERS company). From there, the energy is distributed to the boiler (which also stores surplus from photovoltaics, this time in the form of hot water), to a common installation - sockets, lighting and household appliances - and from June to an electric car.
The energy mix must also include the operation of air conditioning installed for the summer months, when the surplus from the PV plant corresponds well in time with the need for interior cooling. And the energy sector also includes multi-zone controlled ventilation with recuperation (from the WAFE company), which returns cold to the interior in summer and warmth in winter. Also, external blinds, which are designed to shade large-area window surfaces facing south, especially in summer, significantly affect the unwanted heating of the interior. Here, the control system has to choose from several options and criteria: whether the intensity of daylight, energy balance - the indoor temperature, or the highest priority takes precedence: protection of blinds against destruction by strong winds by pulling it to the open position.
The controlled technologies include irrigation, rainwater harvesting, a sauna, a swimming pool and a measuring weather station.
On the project, all companies collaborate, optimize, but also modify and verify operating algorithms, so that the user can easily enter them by selecting the mode in the iCOOL4 application via phone or tablet and adjust their behavior according to current mood, feeling or rational decision based on priorities. As an example of such a user influence on the system, the decision to charge the electric car can be either "free", ie slowly only from the PV surplus, or faster, ie with the help of surplus accumulated in the battery storage, or as quickly as possible - even at the cost of purchasing energy from the grid.
Lighting
Of course, the lighting that belongs to the comfort category can also be controlled in the house from the same user environment of the iCOOL4 application. So turn on and off when I want, set the intensity, ie dimming, for how much I want. Some may want to adjust the color of the lighting, because "full color" LED chips are offered today. However, there was more to this family house. Caring for light and its impact on the daily well-being of the population is also part of the CAMEB project and the contribution of scientists from UCEEB. Already in the coordination phase, the investor admitted a discussion on the principles of lighting.
The originally intended direct and spot lighting was replaced by indirect lighting, and biodynamic lighting was also used, from which the blue component of the spectrum disappears in a controlled manner in the evening and at night, just as in nature. In the bedroom and bathroom, more natural lighting was realized from the ground. On / off control is realized by standard switches on the wall. In parallel, and if necessary, then remotely e phone or tablet.
Dynamic transitions, the correct chromaticity temperature at a given time and intensity are already ensured by the Foxtrot system itself according to the mode preset by the user in the iCOOL4 application. In order to bring artificial lighting closer to the quality of natural light, including its variability during the day and evening, the lighting system must be highly adaptable, ideally independently controlling the gradual switching between day and evening atmosphere. The automatic system controlled according to the time of day and season adjusts the entire spectrum of light parameters: it controls the power, spectral composition, spatial distribution of light. The user of the object only chooses whether or not he wants to light in the given space, and the system already sets parameters suitable for the given time of day.
Ing. Daniel Adamovský, Ph.D., project coordinator for UCEEB, commented on the deployment of the Foxtrot control system in this project as follows: "The choice of a Tecomat Foxtrot control system with iCOOL4 seems to be a good step, as it ensures that proven knowledge will be easy to integrate into repeatable installations of houses and similar projects, where the main priority of investors will be energy saving and comfortable indoor environment."