Center for the Built Environment

For buildings to operate effectively and save energy they must be commissioned properly and operational problems must be detected and diagnosed. Collection of sensor and control data is essential to this process. Likewise, the analysis of this data with effective tools is critical to performing this work in a cost effective manner. In general, the buildings industry lacks consistent methodologies or protocols that make this process of data collection and analysis effective and efficient; the practitioner usually develops his own techniques on a more or less ad hoc basis. Also lacking is a consistent way to accumulate data over time from many projects that could be helpful to the analysis of a particular system. To help remedy this situation (and to serve as an example of this concept) the Center for Environmental Design Research (CEDR) at UC Berkeley developed diagnostic protocols and a software "toolkit" (UCB AHU Toolkit) to help practitioners identify and rectify problems with large built-up air handling units (AHU). [Carter 1998, Webster 1998, 1999]. These tools and protocols rely on short term monitoring and a set of supporting spreadsheet based tools to screen for problems in AHUs and to conduct more in-depth diagnostic studies for problems found.

The work described herein is an extension of the previous work and comprises Task 2.2.1 of Project 2.2 of the High performance Commercial Buildings Systems (HPCBS) project. The goal of Project 2.2, Monitoring and Commissioning for Existing Buildings, is to facilitate the development of diagnostic procedures and commissioning tools needed by owners, operators and the commissioning industry to perform and analyze test results and operate buildings efficiently.