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Engineering Laboratory

Building Energy & Environment Division

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 31
Advancing Power Electronics with Defect Metrology, Key challenges of near market devices of

Advancing Power Electronics with Defect Metrology

Ongoing
Power electronics play a central role in all aspects of electrical energy storage, distribution, conversion, and consumption. Currently, power electronics heavily rely on Si-based insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), which have large footprints, are inefficient, and require extensive cooling...

AI-Optimized Building Controls

Ongoing
Objective Demonstrate the feasibility of practical AI control techniques for reducing the energy costs of operating HVAC systems in commercial buildings and create a research infrastructure, the Intelligent Building Agents Laboratory (IBAL) and Virtual Cybernetic Building Testbed (VCBT), suitable...

Air Distribution Impacts in Net-Zero Energy Homes

Completed
Objective To acquire high-quality data from well-controlled field configurations that inform residential building designers and equipment standards organizations about space conditioning and ventilation system performance characteristics, especially the air distribution system(s), when applied in...
Diagram of Building Digitization and Semantic Interoperability listing microservices

Building Digitization and Semantic Interoperability

Ongoing
Objective To develop the framework and tools for building and grid digitization and semantic interoperability, and to create standardized machine-readable semantic models that represent building systems information to advance AI-enabled analytics, automation, and control. Technical Idea NIST will...
hi-tech grid

Building Integration with Smart Grid

Completed
Objective - To develop the measurement science for industry standards that will enable interconnection of home and building automation and control systems with a future "smart" utility grid, provide consumers with energy usage information, and support industry efforts to develop the needed standards...

AI for Building Systems Innovation (AIBSI) Program

Ongoing
Objective To develop and deploy advances in measurement science that will improve building operations to ensure cyber-secure facilities, system reliability, occupant comfort/safety and lower operating costs through AI-enabled building systems. What is the problem? Buildings are complex systems of...
hi-tech building

Commissioning Building Systems for Improved Performance and Cybersecurity

Completed
Objective To improve the performance of building systems by providing the measurement science needed to develop improved building commissioning techniques that utilize embedded capabilities of building control systems, accelerate the adoption of cost-effective commissioning as standard practice and...
Diagram for Cybersecurity for Building Systems with digital building, Cyber WG and digital Twins data feeds.

Cybersecurity for Building Systems

Ongoing
Objective Develop the building services cybersecurity application profiles and guidance needed by building owners, designers, manufacturers and others involved in the lifecycle of the building, to understand threats, risks, countermeasures and governance approach and to ensure cyber-secure...
green construction

Embedded Intelligence in Buildings Program

Completed
Objective To develop and deploy advances in measurement science that will improve building operations to achieve lower operating costs, energy waste, occupant comfort/safety/security, and smart grid integration through the use of intelligent building systems. What is the problem? Over 80% of the...
Energy Monitoring Systems promise to deliver real-time, detailed energy end-use information to building occupants.

Energy Measurements for Existing Residential Buildings Project

Ongoing
Objective: To improve estimates of residential whole-building energy consumption by 2014 through characterization of uncertainties of tools used in providing energy feedback to building occupants and selecting retrofit options to improve the performance of existing buildings. What is the new...
heatpump fan

Fault Detection and Diagnostics for Air-Conditioners and Heat Pumps

Completed
Objective Develop fault detection and diagnostic (FDD) methods and measurement tools to ensure air conditioners (ACs) and heat pumps (HPs) perform as designed throughout their lifetime and develop a testing and rating methodology to assess relative merits of different commercial FDD products...

Flammability Metrics for New Low-GWP Refrigerants

Completed
Objective: To develop the capability to measure and predict the burning velocity of mixtures of low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants to allow the ranking of the mixtures in terms of their flammability, to assist in the selection and implementation of the best replacements for high-GWP...
JHPGL Chamber

Flammability Metrics for Next Generation Refrigerants

Ongoing
Objective To develop the capability to measure and predict the flammability of next generation refrigerants to (1) allow the ranking of mixtures in terms of their flammability, (2) assist in selection and implementation of the best replacements for legacy hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, (3)...
NIST researcher setting up air cleaner experiments in large stainless steel environmental chamber

Indoor Contaminants

Ongoing
Objective To provide the measurement science to lead the development of industry-consensus standards and guides to optimize buildings and operate products relevant to the indoor environment and indoor air quality in an efficient and safe manner. Technical Idea This project seeks to provide the...
hi-tech Building

Intelligent Building Agents

Completed
Objective Demonstrate the feasibility of AI control techniques for reducing the energy costs of HVAC systems in commercial buildings and create a research infrastructure, the Intelligent Building Agents Laboratory (IBAL), suitable for ongoing demonstration, development, and evaluation of advanced AI...
Researchers use novel fluids with nanoparticles to improve the efficiency of chillers that cool large buildings.

Low-GWP Refrigerants for High-Efficiency HVAC&R Equipment

Completed
Objective - To develop heat transfer and system performance information that will assist in the selection and implementation of the best replacements for high-GWP hydrofluorocarbon (HFC). What is the new technical idea? Most of the currently used HFC refrigerants will be phased out or phased down...
Illustrated cutaway showing the inside of the Net Zero Energy House

Measurement Science for Building Systems Program

Ongoing
Objective To develop and deploy advances in measurement science to support the design and operation of high-performance building systems capable of better supporting resiliency, grid-reliability/stability, and affordability while maintaining a healthy, safe indoor environment. What is the problem...
Drawing of NIST Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility.

Measuring the Performance of Net-Zero Energy Homes

Completed
Objective: Develop the measurement science necessary to evaluate various technological approaches to achieve net-zero energy residential buildings, including innovative monitoring techniques, methods of test, performance metrics and high quality experimental data for the validation and improvement...
Hot Water Systems (HWS) Lab

Premise Plumbing Systems for High-Performance Buildings

Ongoing
Objective To develop new measurement methods, modeling approaches, and data to support improvements in building plumbing design, utility consumption, and water quality. Technical Idea The technical idea is to advance understanding of the impacts water use and water-related energy use on its delivery...
Reliability of Mechanical Systems photo

Reliability of Mechanical Systems in Buildings

Ongoing
Objective To develop AI-assisted Fault-Detection and Diagnostic tools for reliability and operating cost savings of residential air conditioners (ACs), heat pumps (HPs), and mechanical systems of large commercial buildings. Technical Idea NIST will develop and demonstrate cloud-based FDD methods for...
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