ECOTHERMO · Innovative green technology for smart energy saving on existing residential buildings with centralized heating/cooling generators

The existing building stock in European countries accounts for over 40% of final energy consumption in the European Union (EU) member states, of which residential use represents 63% of total energy consumption in the buildings sector. In this scenario, the EcoThermo proposal will address specific needs and will pursue challenges in order to introduce breakthrough technologies into the market.The EcoThermo project aims to develop a smart thermoregulatory system aimed at optimizing the heat/cooling energy consumption and perform smart and accurate cost allocation to be applied in already existing (old) buildings where the heating/cooling system is centralized, without independent control and independent cost allocation even with a vertical pipeline distribution (i.e. each radiator connected to a different vertical pipe) avoiding the batteries and devices disposal and at the same time preserving a heating/cooling cost allocation really based on the user/flat thermal energy demand.Main Scientific Achievement: to research physical and mathematical models aimed to estimate with high accuracy the real demand of thermal energy by users (radiators, flats, etc.) connected to a common thermal generator and thermal distribution network and avoiding the usage of the traditional heat cost allocators (for each radiator) as well as the heat meters (for each flat); to research the physical phenomena in order to develop breakthrough technologies to electrically power flow control devices, such as radiator electronic valves, by the mean of transducers applied in main pipeline section and on board of the same peripheral control devices, avoiding the usage of batteries and the plug-in of the same devices to the grid and estimate the lowest energy demand for the most energy consumption device to be powered without plugging it on the electric power network