During the summer visit of NUIG researchers in Belgrade, a tentative plan was made for IMP young researchers to visit NUIG during the early or late fall of 2023 before the project comes to an end thus making the most use of the opportunity provided by the SINERGY project. With this unique opportunity in mind, the visit was scheduled for the final week of November 2023 as a 5-day-long stay in Galway, Ireland, as presented in the Figure below.
Initial agenda for the Galway visit in late November, 2023
Overall, the Agenda proposal outlines 4 key activities. The first one was an on-sight visit to the National University of Ireland, Galway, now named only University of Galway. This visit included first a meeting in one of the university’s conference rooms followed by a guided tour of several energy-related facilities that power buildings in the university’s campus. Days 2 and 3 were reserved for a visit to a nearby Aran Islands archipelago, concretely Inis Mor island where several facilities like private homes, commercial buildings and some industry facilities were the subject of recent renewable installation (photovoltaic arrays, batteries and heat pumps) on which IMP and NUIG collaborated to bring novel control concepts that allow for remote management with the goal of achieving self-sustainable island communities.
After coming back from the Aran Islands, the meetings continued with a visit to Boston Scientific factory and office space located just outside of Galway where NUIG have been actively, and for several years, working on improving energy efficiency of HVAC systems as well as design processes. Finally, the meeting was to conclude with a visit to Insight Institute, affiliated with the University of Galway, and focusing on various AI applications, in line with the main workflow of IMP researchers.
Once the dates were fixed, the team from IMP comprised of Dea Jelić (formerly Pujić) and Marko Jelić, two researchers with several years of experience, has undertaken the necessary administrative tasks (primarily visa acquisition for Ireland) and arrived in Galway on November 26th, in time for the meeting, in spite of some uncertainty regarding the visa approval timeline.
Day 1 - Visit to NUIG facilities
The first day of the visit started with a set of presentations by the NUIG staff. First in the line was Luis Miguel Blanes Restoy who introduced the healthy/sick building concept and presenting the WELL standard (https://www.wellcertified.com) for building certification that was designed to establish a necessary level and drive improvements in several concepts such as air and water quality, movement, nourishment, sound propagation, etc. Several practical examples from Serbia as well as general concerns were also discussed. Several aspects that were considered when the NUIG’s Alice Perry building was designed were also mentioned.
Following this, Raquel Lima, currently working on her Ph.D. at the University of Galway, presented her research into user-integrated energy management frameworks. Concretely, her presentation summarized various survey results particularly concerning user perspectives and the way various organizations handle energy management systems.
Afterwards, Luis Miguel Blanes Restoy returned as presenter to showcase the building management system (often abbreviated as BMS) that is actively in use in the Alice Perry building. Several challenges were discussed in terms of building automation and the necessary labor force that is needed to make full use of such a system. Since the system collects a lot of data, it was noted how a person must be fully dedicated to monitoring the building status and measurements in order to provide timely reactions. However, as this is a mundane task, the willingness to commit to such work is rarely expected.
Alice Perry building’s BMS system presentation
Once the presentation slot had concluded, the group started a tour of the energy infrastructure powering the Alice Perry building, previously discussed and visualized in the BMS system. The first stop on this tour was the ground level facility containing gas boilers and a combined heat and power (CPH, diesel engine) plant, assisted by NUIG staff working daily on maintaining these devices. Following this, the group continued to the roof of the Alice Perry building where several PV installations, solar thermal collectors (STCs), air handling units (AHUs) and air-source heat exchangers (AHXs, dry coolers) are located.
The tour of the energy infrastructure continued with a presentation of the two heat pump systems making use of ground energy via a set of boreholes located outside Alice Perry building, at a nearby field next to the basketball court. The heat pump installation is, conveniently, following the same design principles for the rest of the building, uncovered in order to serve as an educational tool. This concept entails that several key building features such as constructional elements, foundations, rebar, etc., shown in key places outlining how the building setup is designed and built.
The presentations were followed by a brief stop to a celebration of newly graduated MSc students at NUIG’s Computer Science department that was, by chance, on the same day as this visit, with a lunch break afterwards. After the lunch break, the visit continued with a tour of the Mathematics building at NUIG with commentary from Luis Miguel Blanes Restoy regarding the various architectural aspects of that building, as well as other campus facilities that were along the way. A particular focus was placed on the building's energy system and HVAC system layout. The tour finished with a visit to the top floor that houses the HP installation along with another PV panel array and an air-source heat exchanger, connected to the heat pump, and further to radiators in individual offices. Also, several wireless monitoring devices such as temperature and humidity sensors were mentioned as they feed the necessary data to the BMS system.
Day 2 - Aran Islands visit (day one)
The second day of the visit was reserved for a trip to Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. The island is accessible from Galway via a relatively short ferry boat ride. The ferry operates in different ways in summer and winter, taking different routes. Since the visit occurred during the winter season, a bus first takes passengers from the center of Galway to Rossaveal which takes about 45 minutes, followed by a ferry boat ride of a similar length.
The four-person party from NUIG and IMP met up with Cathy Ni Ghoill who greeted the group on behalf of the Inis Mor community office. The first facility that was visited was the community hall near the port where the team took a look at the renewable installation powered by a PV array and containing an inverter and set of batteries, while also discussing the ways in which the building serves the community, as reflected in the energy demand profile.
After a brief stop at the local catholic church, the visit continued in the community offices where the team discussed, in general, the impacts that recent projects bringing renewables and more advanced control systems had on the local community, residents’ lives and their daily habits. Also, particular focus had been placed on the achieved savings and how the systems can be maintained to ensure no interruptions to its operation. Afterwards, the team discussed the local heat pump installation powered by Mitsubishi Electric and analyzed the control workflow that was designed to govern the way these devices operate and provide heat even in cold winter days in Aran.
Meeting in the Inis Mor community office
After the stay at the community building, the team continued the tour to one of the installations which also incorporates a PV system coupled with a Mitsubishi Electric heat pump installation shown in the figures provided. This facility serves as the child care center of the island primarily for kids that are not yet of the age for primary school.
After finishing the scheduled visits, the team went for a quick visit to the Dún Aonghasa cliff and afterwards spent the night in one of the local houses offering bed & breakfast services to tourists.
Day 3 - Aran Islands visit (day two)
The second day of the visit to Aran Islands began with a visit to the local recycling center. This site has been the focus of one of the most innovative installations within the REACT Horizon 2020 project (https://react2020.eu/) as the typical PV-inverter-battery electrical installations was augmented with an very innovative hydrogen system by CTS-H2 (https://www.ctsh2.com/). Namely, this system utilizes rainwater and electrical energy (either sourced by locally installed PV or bought from the grid at low prices) to provide an alternative means of storage to typical batteries. Through the use of the installed electrolyzer and fuel cell, this unit can effectively provide bi-directional energy transformation between hydrogen and electric.
The renewable installation was discussed as a key driver for increasing the sustainability of the energy portfolio of the facility as a large portion of the energy needs can be locally sourced without the need for additional grid imports. Particular issues regarding the 10 kWp limit for production without having to go through a lengthy registration procedure for grid-connected PV installations pertaining to local legislative as well as somewhat difficult maintenance procedures that require involvement and on-site visits from Italian partners due to specific and innovative characteristics were also discussed.
Innovative CTS-H2 system at the recycling center showing the fuel cell on the left and inverters and control unit on the right
Electrolizers on the left and hydrogen storage on the right within the CTS-H2 unit
Once the analysis of the local renewable installations had concluded, the team went on a guided tour, facilitated by kind and professional local staff, of several recycling processes that are done on a daily basis in the recycling center. Some of these include composting from food and paper waste, recycling crushed glass into concrete blocks and repurposing old parts and devices, thus aiding in achieving circular economy goals.
Various processes in the recycling center (cut cardboard and paper used for composting on the left and waste press on the right)
After visiting the recycling center, the team continued the visit to one of the private homes of one of the islanders who was kind enough to host the researchers and showcase the system he uses in his daily life. This installation incorporates solar panels, an inverter and two batteries. Through another project supported by NUIG focusing on smart home systems, this house was also equipped with a set of smart plugs. The resident also talked about how all of these devices influence his energy use and allow him to maximize savings and lower reliance on the grid, particularly when the use of different appliances and particularly heating can be aligned with energy availability from the battery.
After finishing the scheduled visits, the team returned to the community center where another meeting was held summarizing the results from the automated and semi-automated energy management system for the island. With this in mind, several use cases were discussed as showcases of this system that is planned to be published in a joint paper in the following months. Special attention was given to the thermal use case and the alignment of the given control actions with the energy use profile previously computed by an optimization solution. Further integration and potential expansions of this system were also discussed in a wider context, also touching the topic of grid-level integration and overall community impacts.
After finishing the visits and meetings, the team returned to Galway via the ferry boat service.
A meeting discussing an upcoming joint publication at the community center
Day 4 - Visit to Boston Scientific
Upon returning to Galway, the next day was reserved for a visit to the Boston Scientific (https://www.bostonscientific.com/en-US/Home.html) factory in the company of prof. Marcus Martin Keane from NUIG. Here, the team met with Boston Scientific’s employees in charge of sustainability and process design and one of the engineers from Insight Institute (https://www.insight-centre.org/) affiliated with NUIG who is also working on joint projects.
The meeting revolved around the joint GEMS project between Boston Scientific and NUIG where the initial idea of basic HVAC monitoring was extended to minimize redundancies, quickly detect and resolve parallel operation of heating and cooling devices, and improve overall air preparation for specific processes and storage while also achieving significant energy savings. These ideas were extended into the product and process design space, with ongoing efforts to incorporate energy efficient and sustainable design in various aspects of the factory.
The presentation also mentioned the organization behind these efforts to achieve sustainability, ranging from machine design and production to modeling and various software implementations. A noteworthy aspect from these discussions was also the main motivation in large-scale multinational companies such is Boston Scientific for achieving sustainability, as well as the means that this goal is propagated vertically through such a complex organization.
Following the meeting, a brief tour through the factory was organized so the group from NUIG and IMP had the pleasure and opportunity to see not only how various medical devices are produced, but also how the machines used to produce these devices are made. Once finished, the team also visited the main open-office space in Boston Scientific.
Day 5 - Visit to Insight
The plan for the final day of IMP’s visit to Galway and NUIG included the visit to the previously mentioned Insight Institute. As Insight’s building is located on the far side of the campus, the walk took a bit longer, but once there the team first visited the unique communications history museum located within the Institute. Here, the team could see various levels of developments of communication device through the ages, particularly from the late 60s, early 70s onwards. This museum provides a one-of-a-kind experience as it incorporates many “nostalgic” devices that today’s youth may not even be acquainted with, but that have been the cornerstones of that day’s technology.
After finishing with the museum visit and a short walk through the Institute, the team met up with Insight’s employees for one final meeting. Here, the topic of various AI-powered projects that Insight is working on were presented, along with a discussion placing a particular focus of ethical and trustworthy AI in contemporary projects.
In the end, several future proposal ideas were discussed including Insight, NUIG as well as IMP with further talks to continue once the team from IMP arrives back at their home offices.
