The Design of Building Management Platform Based on Cloud Computing and Low-Cost Devices

Abstract

Indoor environment monitor and control are important aspects of reducing building energy consumption and maintaining occupants' visual and thermal comforts. Previous research showed that the lots of buildings were not able to provide designed service level in the daily operation and the feedback from occupants showed that the predetermined service level sometimes did not match occupants' desire. However, most of existing buildings and residential buildings did not have building management systems that can systematically monitor the indoor environment, collect occupants' feedback, and fine-tune built-in control logic when the occupants' needs could not be met. An easy-to-build and easy-to-use build management system can help researchers, engineers, and occupants themselves to identify the issue. The goal of this study was to develop a building management platform with the functions of indoor environment data collection (temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, etc.), remote control (air conditioner, window, shading), occupants' feedback collection (set point, status of building components, etc.), and user interface for retrieving the data and modifying control logic. The platform was developed using Arduino-based and Raspberry Pi-based microcontroller board, low-cost sensors, 3D printing technology, and cloud computing technology. The stored data can serve for personal behavior/comfort analysis, components efficiency analysis, and advanced control logic development. This last part of this paper demonstrated the ability of the developed platform and exhibited the potential application. In the end, we provided further discussion about the potential challenges we might face when developing building management systems in other existing spaces/buildings.