Advanced Building Envelope and Mechanical Systems BSCI 5220

​The Advanced Building Envelope and Mechanical Systems course is a collaborative, student-centered learning course. It provides advanced knowledges and techniques of building envelope and mechanical systems that an energy modeler needs to know when performing advanced level of energy performance analysis. Each week's lesson includes a 3 hours lecture. In this course, students are expected to learn features and comprehensive design concepts of various types and configurations of building envelope, and mechanical systems. This course is constituted of two parts – the building envelope part and mechanical system part. Topics to be covered in building envelope part include: structure and configuration of assemblies of balcony, foundation wall, basement slab, slab on grade and crawlspace, design and performance aspects of these assemblies regarding thermal performance and air leakage, thermal bridge calculations and overview of envelope requirements in the applicable building code and standards (NECB, ASHRAE 90.1 and VBBL) Topics to be covered in mechanical system include: Working principle and features of comprehensive mechanical systems and devices including: VAV, DOA, Four-pipe Fan-coil, Primary-Secondary hydronic loop, VRF systems, Water-side economizer, Waste Heat Harvesting Systems; Advanced control strategies in building mechanical systems. Some renewable energy systems (solar panel and solar PV) commonly applied in buildings will be introduced as well. ​