The Effectiveness of an Intelligent System for Real-Time Hygrothermal Management in Low Energy Buildings

The increasing complexity in the construction field is linked with the number of products and solutions that are constantly developed and which consider all aspects of the build. Referring to the energy efficiency, the EU regulations are becoming stricter in order to solicit the market towards building components able to achieve better performances. The slavish copy of construction methods, without the support of experience and experimentation in the context, can lead to incorrect applications. So that buildings designed for high efficiency have unexpected deficits, for example the formation of condensation and mold, even if the thermohygrometric assessment gave positive results. In the case study shown these phenomena caused the reduction of indoor air-quality, the premature wear of structures and the resulting diseconomies due to frequent maintenance. The risk of condensation is measured referring to indoor fixed conditions and monthly averages for external conditions, actually, these data are constantly changing. This paper proposes an intelligent model for real-time control of the hygrothermal behavior in low energy buildings. Through the management of information related to internal and external conditions combined with the design and context data, the built network lead to assess the correct strategy for an adequate hygrothermal behavior (choosing between active and passive systems for control of indoor air-quality). The expected benefits are a healthy environment, the stable performances of materials, the containment of maintenance costs, the reduction of the use of passive systems in order to cut CO2 emissions.