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Home automation and energy efficiency of buildings. Home automation design in architecture projects.
Technologies are not only generating new business opportunities, they are and will be a key element in our lives that will help us improve it if we use them consistently and here comes the home automation for homes with all its benefits and advantages to make life easier.
Architecture is changing to adapt and today, we have to see how it is doing …
What is home automation?
They are a set of technological facilities or equipment intended to control and automate the intelligent management of a building or home in order to improve the lives of the occupants.
The advantages of home automation of buildings is that it provides comfort, security, management and use of energy equipment or facilities, savings in the consumption of electricity, water and fuel - energy.
With this equipment, intelligent management of the air conditioning facilities (More information here), lighting, hot water, as well as other equipment and facilities can be carried out to make an adequate use of energy.
The systems to monitor consumption before the home automation building They allow us to know at all times how much energy is being consumed, so that this information helps the user to adapt their habits in order to reduce the cost of their bill and improve energy efficiency.
What are the applications in a home automation building?
Faced with the contribution of energy saving, the home automation systems In architecture, they present a diversity of applications with a wide range of possibilities, the most important of which are the following:
1.- Energy savings and comfort
This is where the home automation control in homes … How does home automation affect energy savings and interior comfort in buildings and homes?
In the following infographic of the company GIRA we can test which are its most general applications. So let's see the home automation applications in the home:
- Regulate the hours of operation of air conditioning and lighting installations in rooms or work areas in buildings for tertiary or industrial use, to adapt them to the hours of use and occupation of the same, avoiding that, for example, they can remain operating at night or outside of working hours.
- In the domotic homes a automatic control of the on and off of all lights, thus avoiding that they can continue to light when you go out of it. Efficient lighting is achieved by means of equipment that allows the lighting levels of each room to be varied depending on the natural light received, as well as by presence detectors in passageways, such as common areas or garages in buildings, so that only those in those areas where the occupants are are turned on.
- Regulate the opening and closing of sun protection devices such as blinds (See complete article on blinds and types), awnings (Also more information from HERE) and curtains to get the best possible use of the solar radiation received through the gaps
- Control of the periods of stoppage and start-up of household appliances at certain times when the energy cost is lower, we refer to the so-called off-peak periods, thus achieving an adequate management of electricity rates. In the case of home automation in buildings household, For domestic use, it can be applied to the hourly discrimination rate, so that the user can leave the equipment with the highest consumption working during "off-peak hours" to take advantage of these cheaper rates and reduce their bill.
- Allow programming the disconnection of a certain electrical circuit that does not have priority, such as the air conditioning, before consumption reaches the power that has been contracted, preventing the power control switch and circuit breaker from tripping, that is what is called load rationalization.
- In relation to the interior comfort of users of a building or home, these devices also allow us to adapt the interior temperature based on other factors such as the orientation of the room or the part or area of the building or home in question, the outside temperature, the time of day or the presence of people.
- It allows the detection of windows or doors of the house that are open, notifying the owner if the heating or cooling equipment is activated.
2.- Security in buildings and homes
These regulation and control systems in the home They also allow continuous monitoring and surveillance of the state and safety of people as well as property in buildings, allowing the detection and management of incidents and breakdowns in order to correct them as soon as possible.
For this, the most commonly used equipment are alarms, automatic gap closing systems, surveillance cameras, smoke, gas, water detectors, or alterations in the electricity supply, etc …
Regarding the anti-intrusion systems, they are fundamentally of two types, one to protect access to a plot, by means of infrared barriers outside, gardens, doors and windows with contact sensors, and a second type of protection of the interior of the home that uses motion detectors with ultrasound and infrared technology.
Through certain control and regulation systems in homes Any problem of this type can be detected, notifying the user in the event of a breakdown and also causing the gas or water supply to be cut off, or any other supply to avoid greater risks.
There are also systems that measure water quality to facilitate the proper recycling of gray water, as well as intelligent irrigation control systems with humidity sensors, capable of measuring the degree of soil moisture to irrigate it when necessary, and taps capable of control the flow and temperature of the water.
3.- Communications and monitoring of the status of buildings and homes
These allow direct communication between the control panel and the user so that the user can be notified in the event of any anomaly regarding the operation of the facilities or any equipment.
In the following video is a example of home automation perfect in homes combined with the internet of things based on the new technologies We have to incorporate "robots" that are attentive to all the information data that moves in our home:
How to design a home automation?
When we deal with the design in the conception of a home automation project and its economic viability, we must consider its purpose, which is has electronic and computer applications or tools with the aim of improving living conditions.
To achieve adequate comfort inside the home as well as to be able to save energy, it is necessary to be able to zone the home or building with the home automation system depending on the conditions of use and thermals required in each room, in order to carry out an adequate separate management of each area according to your needs.
The most important factors to consider in this zoning or in a home automation installation They will be the use to which each room is destined, considering the day and night areas separately, as well as the amount of solar radiation received by each area depending on its design and orientation.
The definition and choice of home automation systems In each case, it will depend to a large extent on the aforementioned architectural conditions, but in addition, it also has to adapt to the user's way of life, so that the profile of the user will significantly influence, that is, whether it is an older person, a young person, if they live alone, if they are a family with children, a person with some type of disability, etc.
home automation works well if you know our habits, so first you have to learn what we do, what we like, etc.
A perfect example of various systems that we can implement in the home is the following scheme of the VIMAR house.
To perform a proper home automation project for a home A thorough analysis of the benefits must be carried out and the resolution of problems that could appear in the real project must be addressed, so that the following phases in its development must be considered:
- Study the different existing technologies to be introduced, mentioning what their advantages and disadvantages are, what possibilities they offer to the user and their applications, as well as the possible problems that they may present.
- Select the most appropriate technologies for the needs of the home and user habits.
- Carry out the home automation project.
- Design of a program that allows to simulate the operation of the project designed under the parameters previously considered.
From an economic point of view the installation of a home automation system It does not have to be expensive, so it can be quite viable for any home or building, since with a small investment considerable energy savings can be achieved, in each case the cost depends on what level of automation is going to be implemented.
There are three levels of home automation: the minimum level or level 1, the intermediate level 2 and the level 3 or excellent, establishing said scale according to the weighting of the devices that it requires and the needs covered.
Advantages of home automation
- Home automation energy saving and efficiency. Optimization of energy consumption through programming (It is important to understand the operation of thermostats), zoning and the use of clean energy are some examples of the most used applications.
- Welfare. Improving the quality of life of users through a wide range of services such as the control of the activation / deactivation of the air conditioning and the presence control applied to the on / off of lighting are widely extended services in Spanish buildings.
- Security. The most widely used applications are those related to technical alarms connected to solenoid valves that prevent greater evils in the case of gas leaks or floods. Likewise, lately the use of IP surveillance cameras that allow remote access from any PC, telephone or PDA connected to the Internet has spread.
- Communications. The building's communications infrastructure allows the transmission of alarm messages and remote control from the Internet.
- Leisure. The home automation it also contributes to greater enjoyment of technologically advanced audiovisual systems.
- TOaccessibility. It allows disabled people or people with reduced mobility access to any technology, promoting social integration and equality.
It is interesting to consult the Spanish Association of Domotics and Inmotics … HERE to keep up to date on the subject.
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