energyTWIN
energy diagnostic connector
digital twin
New sensor-based and KI-based methods for the digital, BIM-based commissioning of technical systems in building structures and their energetic system optimization.
UPDATES
9th Status Meeting at the Debeka Headquarters in Koblenz on September 14, 2023
On September 14, 2023, project partners met in the newly built headquarters of Debeka in Koblenz for the 9th status seminar. At the meeting organized by AGK mbH, the project partners exchanged information with the project sponsors and advisors about the current progress of the project. The highlight of the meeting was the live presentation of the project in the "technical bridge" of the building, where the participants on-site could experience and try out the project results summarized in the AR application.
We would like to thank all project participants, advisors, and sponsors for the wonderful meeting, especially of course AGK for organizing the meeting and Debeka for providing the premises!
On 15 July 2022, the project was presented by Tristan Kinnen und Dr. Matthias Wenthe to an international audience at the 39th Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2022) in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of a presentation entitled "BIM-assisted, automated processes for commissioning in building services engineering". The associated publication can be downloaded at https://www.iaarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ISARC-2022-Proceedings.pdf.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
- Method development for automated generation of "digital twins" in the commissioning of technical building equipment and its continuous information enrichment in the operation and utilization phase,
- Recognition of geometry, system topology and energetic-functional and information-technical relationships of technical building equipment during construction and technical commissioning,
- Novel methods for high-resolution data capturing and automated as-built modeling based on as-planned data,
- Data segmentation and classification for the automatic recognition of components in mass data (e.g. point clouds, images),
- Organization and structured processing of data taking functional relationships into account,
- Application of new 5D BIM tools and intelligent asset management workflows,
- Use of artificial intelligence (AI) for digitalization of the “Energiewende” in the building sector.
PROJECT
MAIN OBJECTIVES
Digitalization is a megatrend in all areas of the economy and society.
This is particularly true for the construction industry, which has a lot catching up to do compared to other sectors of the economy, since it is one of the least digitalized industries. From the perspective of the “Energiewende”, digitalization is a key component for managing/handling the volatility of renewable energies in the electricity, heat and mobility sectors on both the generation and consumption side.
In the future, more sophisticated solutions will be necessary to capture the increasingly complex energy system technologies. The highly complex linkage between technical building equipment (TBE) and building automation (BAM) must be captured by information and communication technology (ICT). For managing and analyzing all data in a holistic way, building information models (BIM) are to be used in a form that is comprehensible to humans.
To master the increasing complexity in future, moreover artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning methods must be utilized.
The aim of the energyTWIN project is therefore to develop methods for the automated generation of "digital twins" in the commissioning of technical building equipment and its continuous information enrichment in the operation and utilization phase.
THE NETWORK PARTNERS
RWTH Aachen University
Geodetic Institute and Chair for Computing in Civil Engineering & GIS
Address:
RWTH Aachen University
Geodetic Institute and Chair for Computing in Civil Engineering & GIS
Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1
52074 Aachen
Contact details:
, Tel. +49 (0) 241 / 80 - 95300
Your Contact:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Blankenbach
Dr. Ralf Becker
Contact information:
, Tel. +49 (0) 241 / 80 - 95300
, Tel. +49 (0) 241 / 80 -95288
Profile:
The Geodetic Institute and Chair for Computing in Civil Engineering and GIS (gia) is part of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and has longstanding experience in geodetic data capturing and surveying techniques, spatial data processing and modeling as well as geo-software engineering. Key subjects of current research are 3d data acquisition and digital modeling of the built environment as well as handling data in distributed (mobile) geo-information systems as well as spatial data infrastructures. Regarding building information modeling, the research concentrates on novel methods for semantic modeling with a high degree of automation. Further ongoing research deals with indoor positioning and wireless localization systems as well as virtual and mobile augmented reality applications.
Objectives in the project:
The energyTWIN project aims at developing methods for the automated generation of "digital twins" in the commissioning of technical building equipment and its continuous information enrichment in the operation and utilization phase. Utilizing modern reality capturing techniques, data science methods, virtual and augmented reality as well as cloud-based methods for data management, methods for data segmentation and classification for the automated recognition of components and their topological relationships will be further developed. Results are
• structured building information models (as-built-BIM),
• plant-engineering strand diagrams of the physical system topology
• logical linkage schemes with information about functional and information-technical relationships between actuators and sensors.
The systematic acquisition, processing and organization of data in the sense of a digital twin for buildings is a prerequisite and basis for analyzing operating modes, evaluating functional descriptions, assessing energetic system behavior or for communicating in a form that is "understandable" for humans via "smart" interfaces.
The subproject of gia includes
• further development of efficient methods of reality capturing (photogrammetry, laser scanning, infrared measurement technology) for geo-referenced as-built data acquisition
• indoor positioning and accurate pose tracking for augmented reality
• consistent geo-referencing of all collected data
• further development of procedures for the recognition and classification of components and their topological relationships. This includes in particular methods of AI-based, automated point cloud filtering, data segmentation, feature extraction, classification and modeling.
• transfer of the results into application by developing new innovative smart services
http://www.gia.rwth-aachen.de
RWTH Aachen University
Institute of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building – E3D
Address:
RWTH Aachen University
Institute of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building – E3D
Mathieustr. 30, 52074 Aachen
Germany
Contact details:
E-Mail:
Tel.: +49 (0)241 80 25030
Fax: +49 (0)241 80 22030
Your Contact:
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Christoph van Treeck
Contact information:
E-Mail:
Tel.: +49 (0)241 80 25030
Fax: +49 (0)241 80 22030
Profile:
The Institute of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building (E3D) consists of about 30 scientific and non-scientific staff members and about 20 student assistants. It belongs to the Faculty of Civil Engineering and combines different disciplines of engineering and natural sciences. This interdisciplinarity enables an approach from different perspectives and focusses on four subject areas:
Energy in Buildings and Districts (EBD), Ergonomics of the Indoor Environment (EIE), Building Information Modelling (BIM), Computational Engineering (CE).
One focus is the modelling and simulation of building physics processes in the field of energy-efficient and sustainable construction and operation of buildings, technical facilities and districts, including life cycle cost analysis. IT-based methods in the areas of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geoinformation Systems (GIS), building performance simulation methods, the object-oriented simulation language Modelica and multi-physics simulation methods are applied and further refined. Furthermore, E3D is co-founder of the BIM Center Aachen, which addresses digitization in the building industry and has the goal to implement Building Information Modelling (BIM) under the scientific direction of Prof. van Treeck.
In the area of ergonomics and indoor environment, modelling and simulations of user behaviour and climate impact on humans with regard to thermal comfort serve as a basis for research. Thus, the Instiute conducts, among other things, studies of test persons in climate rooms. Work on thermal ergonomics related areas of vehicle air conditioning in the context of electromobility as well as interdisciplinary work on interactions with physiological, psychological and demographic aspects.
The Institute of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Building - E3D at RWTH Aachen University has already worked on various projects in the field of energy transition and digitalization of construction. These include projects in the area of campus properties, such as "EnEff:Stadt, EnEff:Campus: LivingRoadmap: Development of an energy supply concept with model-based predictive control based on a Living Roadmap by the example of the research center Jülich" (FKZ 03ET1352A) and "EnEff:Stadt, EnEff:Campus: RoadMap RWTH Aachen, Phase 2" (FKZ 03ET1260A) or projects in the area of planning, such as "EnOB_EnTool/EnEff-BIM: Planning, design and operation optimization of energy-efficient building projects and existing buildings through modeling and simulation-based building information models, subproject: BIM data analysis, algorithms and data exchange formats" (FKZ 03ET1177A) and "EnOB: EnergieDigital - Integrated description of technical building services in BIM to enable planning and operation of energy efficient buildings. Subproject: Planning" (FKZ 03ET1611B). These projects, which have been worked on so far, provide an ideal basis and expertise for quickly achieving the goals set out in this project.
Tasks/goals in this project:
- Adaptation and further development of a labeling system for semantic and functional MEP description linked to object-oriented hierarchical structures (BIM).
- Fusion and networking with new sensor-based acquisition methods for the informational linking of many technically diverse elements of the energy system.
- Development of AI-based methods for the detection and analysis of system topological and functional relationships in MEP.
- Development of a multi-level user guidance for the qualification-adequate representation and control of the complex MEP operating systems.
http://www.e3d.rwth-aachen.de
DiConnex GmbH
Company address:
DiConnex GmbH
Gänsemarkt 33
20354 Hamburg
Germany
Contact details:
Vanessa Manzke
Jörg Jungedeitering
Contact person:
, Tel. +49 160 94903816
Company Profile:
DiConneX GmbH was founded in 2016 and aims to establish and actively shape itself as a total service provider for the conception,
creation, and sustainable implementation of Digital Twins of buildings and technologies in the real estate industry. In order to be able to offer this range of
services to DiConneX customers, the service areas BIM Consulting, Mapping & Scanning, as well as Software Development, were integrated into a network.
BIM Consulting provides the necessary insights into processes, people, guidelines, and technologies in order to integrate the requirements and working methods
with a sustainable Digital Twin for the customer. By scanning with innovative technologies, DiConneX enables the mapping of existing buildings and facilities
as well as those under construction. This provides a holistic, usable digital image in the form of browser-based 3D BIM models. DiConneX develops software tools,
such as "DigaTwin", to link information sources (CAFM,CAD, PIM, sensors (IoT), and other information sources) with the browser-based 3D BIM
models. The "DigaTwin" software is the basis for locating and networking building-relevant information based on artificial intelligence.
DiConneX uses different technologies for the geometric recording of buildings and facilities. Currently, the mobile mapping system of the company
NavVis, terrestrial laser scanners of the companies Faro and Leica, drones for a photogrammetric recording of outdoor areas, and 360°
cameras such as the Insta 360 One X are used. As a service provider for mapping & scanning services,DiConneX is independent
of technologies and strives to continuously integrate innovative solutions. This ensures that the As-Built scanning process and the creation
of the digital twin is continuously improved. The next step is to test an innovative technology, the Spot robot with structures such as 360 ° cameras
and 3D laser scanners from Boston Dynamics.
DiConneX's references include, for example, the holistic inventory digitization of BMW Welt (Munich) using mobile mapping methods, the surveying of the technical
building parts of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg or the scanning of the ICE plant of Deutsche Bahn in Frankfurt. BMW Welt will use the digital twin for five trades:
marketing, facility management internal and external, event planning, and building cleaning. Outside of buildings, DiConneX also has experience in shipbuilding,
namely the Alfred Wegener Institute's research vessel Polarstern last year.
Task/objectives in the project:
- Networking and automation of different mapping methods for geo-referenced As-Built Documentation.
- Accompanying evaluation and demonstration of the methods in practice on the digital twin at different demonstrators (laboratory, buildings e.g. of the AGK)
- Evaluation and testing of the relevance of the developed topics related to practice and resulting business models
- Development of business models for faster and holistic procedures for the cross-trade technical commissioning of real estate properties
https://diconnex.com/
aedifion GmbH
Company address:
aedifion GmbH
Hohenzollernring 72
50672 Köln
Germany
Contact details:
Telefon: +49 221 98650770
E-Mail:
Web: www.aedifion.com
Contact person:
Tobias Rettig
, Tel. +49 151 27255679
Company Profile:
aedifion wants to actively shape the energy system of the future and is convinced that a transparently operated and energy-optimized building landscape is possible. To this end, the company develops cloud solutions for transparent, simple and optimized building operation and is funded by the BMWi's EXIST research transfer program. The basis for analysis, interpretation and optimization of building automation systems is the permanent availability of operating data. To ensure this, the cloud platform aedifion.io was developed and enables high-performance data acquisition, storage and visualization from the cloud. As an add-on, aedifion offers .analytics and .controls, professional tools for optimizing, controlling and regulating building technology. The functions use artificial intelligence to read insights from the data sets in a time-saving and accurate manner, derive optimization recommendations and thus support the operators in their daily routine.
Task/Objectives in the project:
As an SME, aedifion GmbH is a partner in the EnergyTWIN project. The sub-project that aedifion is contributing to the joint project is the development of an AI-based method for recognizing and analyzing system topological and functional relationships. This also includes the intelligent provision of heterogeneous building automation protocols for subsequent users. The given complexity of data retrieval and collection is reduced by providing a standardized interface with defined input and output parameters without requiring detailed information about the corresponding underlying protocol. The classification of building services time series is also a point within the sub-project of aedifion.
The long-term goal resulting from the project is the development of marketable products of a technical-digital commissioning across all trades as well as for as-built documentation for operation, reconstruction, deconstruction and recycling.
https://www.aedifion.com/
TEMA Technologie Marketing AG
Company address:
TEMA Technologie Marketing AG
Aachener-und-Münchener-Allee 9
52074 Aachen
Germany
Contact:
Tel.: +49 241 88970-0
Fax: +49 241 88970-999
Contact person:
Dr. Günter Bleimann-Gather
Contact details:
, Tel.: +49 241 88970-0
Company Profile:
TEMA is a marketing service provider that focuses on technology-oriented companies, primarily in building automation, energy and IT. Employees have engineering or business/journalism training and speak 18 different native languages. Services include market research, white paper and study development, online and print product creation, and 3D and virtual reality development.
References include two of the three worldwide standardized communication standards in TGA: BACnet and LonMark. For 15 years, TEMA has published industry magazines (in 3 and 5 languages respectively) with tests and certifications on automation products, with reference reports and UX studies. TEMA manages conference formats, such as the "GebäudeEffizienz", the "BACnet Airport Conference" on TGA in airport buildings and the "CyberSecurity" on security of automation solutions. TEMA has also created virtual reality applications for the repair of control cabinets, the installation of solar panels and energy efficiency.
TEMA was founded in 1994 and its 79 employees work in the Aachen, Berlin, Dortmund, Chicago, Paris and Beijing offices.
Task/objectives in the project:
- Construction of virtual and augmented reality environments for manual post-recording
- Development of product construction kits for the creation of digital twins for commercial properties automated with LON or BACnet
- Public relations (social media, press relations, etc.)
- Creation/programming of the project website
https://tema.de/
Internet Marketing Services GmbH
Company address:
Internet Marketing Services GmbH
Nordstr. 17
31675 Bückeburg
Contact details:
Geschäftsführer: Hendrik Tesche, Dr. Matthias Wenthe
USt.-ID.-Nr.: DE237405419
Registergericht: Amtsgericht Stadthagen HRB 2773
Tel +49 5722 8900500
Fax +49 05722 89005-19
Contact person:
Matthias Wenthe
Contact details:
Dr. Matthias Wenthe
, Tel. +49 5722 8900 507
Company Profile:
Internet Marketing Services (IMS) is an internet agency based in Bückeburg that was founded in 1996 and currently has 14 employees.
Since 2009, mobile applications and smartphone apps have been the focus of attention, in line with the smartphone boom. Through the development of its own app construction kit and the creation of several B2B apps for the photovoltaic industry, IMS has gained in-depth knowledge in the field of native and hybrid app development.
IMS operates the solar portal convert-control.de for the solar power company eye2m with more than 1,700 plants and approx. 4,300 inverters and is represented with its own software directly on the microcontrollers in Kostal's inverters. IMS has developed web based solar calculators for Schüco, Solon and Suntech, which formed the basis for the development of subsequent iPhone, iPad and Android apps. For Yello Strom and EnBW, IMS developed an offline sales tool for small end-customer solar systems with online crm database synchronisation.
Furthermore, IMS has created a very complex solar calculator for the configuration and calculation of substructures across all lines for Schüco. Tablet apps were also developed for Solon, Suntech and Wirsol,which assisted the complete recording and planning of a roof in the field. In addition, a new solar calculator with roof planning based on Google Earth satellite images was recently developed for Solarworld AG.
In 2020, as a subcontractor in a project for Messe Berlin, IMS developed a geo-based system for better coordination of set-up and dismantling at trade fair sites. In the same year, a for Visitrans a web portal was developed for the logistics industry to avoid empty runs of ISO containers. Currently (2021) this web portal is rolled out on a worldwide scale.
For Minden Cathedral, IMS has developed a prototype AR app that recognizes structural details of the real cathedral and overlays them with historical images. IMS is currently developing an app component that enables precise positioning and location of the smartphone in outdoor and indoor spaces and can be used as a basis for an AR app.
As a first application, the VisitFRA app has been created for Frankfurt Airport. The app uses indoor positioning and AR navigation to guide visitors through the exhibition. In addition, suitable multimedia content is played at the 28 objects. In a future version of the app, the 55-square-metre 3D model of Frankfurt Airport will be brought "to life"
with the help of AR scenes. Depending on the flight schedule visitors will then be able to follow take-offs and landings on the 3D model's airfield live and in real time.
Task/objectives in the project:
- Development of mobile applications for as-built detection, taking into account data protection, data security and intuitive usability.
- Use of AR technology in the app for comparison between as-planned and as-built
- Development of a multi-client SaaS (Software as a Service) database backend system with rights and role management for recording as-planned and as-built data.
- Evaluation and demonstration
https://www.ims.de/
Aachener Grundvermögen Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH
Company address:
Oppenheimstraße 9
50668 Köln
Contact details:
Tel. 0221 / 77204-0
Contact person:
Herr Jürgen Hagen
Contact details:
Tel. 0221 / 77204-310
Company Profile:
Immobilien-Projektentwicklung (Umbau / Neubau) für den eigenen Bestand
Task/objectives in the project:
https://www.aachener-grund.de/
