Gulf Construction Online - AI offers smart way to cool buildings: study

Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration

AI offers smart way to cool buildings: study

01 April 2022

An Omani research study has revealed a new way to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the cooling requirements of a building and use renewable energy to power the cooling systems.

The study led by Dr Maryam Zuhair Al Lawati from Oman’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation has been featured in the 33rd issue of Scientific Insights magazine published by the ministry earlier this year.

The AI-designed system predicts the cooling load needed for a building during the year and based on these predictions, a control system operates the heat-conditioning system according to the building’s requirements.

Dr Maryam stated that the research was conducted to utilise Oman’s renewable energy resources while addressing the country’s need to keep buildings cool during summer. According to the findings of the study, this issue can be solved using AI to reduce costs in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner.

The research utilised several tools such as data analyses of different weather conditions in Oman and of the buildings, including the construction materials used.

The researcher chose solar energy as a renewable source to power the air conditioners of the building – the study sample was the Social Centre building in Innovation Park Muscat, which provided the right parameters to design a smart control system.

The heat was reduced through transferring it to the earth and then utilising the geothermal energy. This type of optimal energy use is considered innovative, and the smart control system was programmed to determine the most suitable hours for using this system, she said.

AI was used to calculate the amount of cooling needed in the building, but the challenge was Oman’s unusual climatic conditions in summer due the Khareef (monsoon) season in Dhofar, which has an impact on the solar energy generated, according to Dr Maryam.

Therefore, the research team devised a new method of using AI to calculate cooling loads.

While Oman relies entirely on electrical energy to cool buildings, the study showed that the use of electrical energy may be reduced to 23.6 per cent, when thermal energy based on solar power is introduced. According to the findings, the smart system can predict the amount of cooling for the hybrid system, with an accuracy of 98 per cent.

The findings of this study have paved the way for other projects and alternative solutions for the hybrid system to be implemented in the future, and showed that solar energy can be used efficiently in this area.