Infrastructure (EES)

We have a world class analysis and experimental systems for various energy storage systems

• Battery, sensible and phase change energy storage systems and material recycling can be studied.
• Material development for energy storage.
• Advanced electrolysis systems and 
• P2X processes, such as methanol synthesis reactors.

The HVAC laboratory at Aalto is well-equipped for indoor environmental measurements both in the lab and on the field. We have many equipment suitable for studying ventilation, air distribution, indoor thermal conditions, indoor air quality, gas/aerosol transmission and user perception of those. Additionally, we have a semi-empirical testbed for investigating energy flows in a nearly-zero energy building.

• The cornerstone of the HVAC lab is the HVAC test room which can be used for measurements dealing with ventilation, air distribution, thermal comfort etc. The room is 5.5 x 4 meters in floor area and ~3.5 meters high. There is a movable wall inside to reduce the floor area or split the room into two parts, and the ceiling can also be lowered if necessary. The walls and roof are well-insulated to minimize heat transfer between inside and outside the room. Two of the walls have panels with water-filled pipes in them to emulate real windows. These panels can be either cooled or heated with a dedicated system for winter or summer conditions, respectively. There is also a dedicated air handling unit with chiller for the test room, enabling the accurate control of ventilation and supply air temperature.
• For indoor air quality and thermal comfort studies, there is a breathing thermal manikin with 27 separately controlled and monitored skin segments. It has movable arms and legs, making e.g., seated, and standing positions possible. The manikin’s inhale and exhale can be controlled in strength and timing, and it is also possible to humidify and heat the exhaled air. There is also the option to choose from three different control modes for the skin heating: constant heat flux, constant skin temperature and thermal comfort mode.
• To visualize airflow structures, we have a Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) system. It is equipped with a powerful (200 mJ/pulse) dual-cavity Nd:YAG laser to maximize the measurement area, and with two cameras at an angle to enable the analysis of particle movement in all three dimensions.
• In addition to the breathing manikin, we have a coughing/sneezing machine and particle sizers to study aerosol transmission in various conditions. The coughing/sneezing machine can also be used for emulating exhalation of aerosol droplets.
• Ventilation effectiveness and air distribution can be studied with a multigas analyzer which is able to measure from up to 10 user-defined locations. The unit can detect CO2, SF6 and toluene-equivalent TVOC, each at the ppb-range.
• For detailed analysis of airflow structures, in addition to PIV, we have twelve omnidirectional hot globe anemometers which can detect airflows as small as 0.1 m/s. These units are especially helpful in assessing the draught risk in various indoor conditions.
• Temperature profiling and thermal imaging can be done in the lab and on the field with a high-resolution infrared camera which can take IR images at the resolution of 1024x768 pixels.
• For field studies, we have 16 cloud-based IoT loggers that can measure temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration and pressure difference and provide real-time visualization of the data. We also have lots of conventional loggers for offline measurements of the same quantities.

The second fixed research platform in the HVAC lab in addition to the test room is the nearly-zero energy building emulator. It is a combination of real components (PV panels, solar thermal collectors, ground-source heat pump, hot water storage tanks, batteries) and software (building, GSHP borehole), and equipped with an energy management system for optimizing the various energy flows in the system. The platform is flexible and scalable so adding new components or changing the simulated building is easy to do.