ORNL’s commercial buildings integration research involves the testing of new components, equipment and systems in realistic environments before market introduction. Research areas include a vacant research house with simulated occupancy, light commercial flexible building research platforms and computer modeling, visualization and analytics.
Researchers utilize the Flexible Research Platform, or FRP, a two-story multi-zone unoccupied research apparatus that can be used to physically simulate light commercial buildings common in the United States' existing building stock. The FRP can accurately monitor and evaluate various configurations of envelope systems and HVAC systems with system controls, occupant schedules, and plug loads. It allows users to apply desired test scenarios and settings, and can also provide data collected during testing from more than 500 sensors. The FRP features an indoor light environment, occupant and lighting simulation, building automation system, building system components, data acquisition system, and air filtration and indoor contaminants transportation analysis.