1
RPI SOA VERTICAL STUDIO FALL 2010
t ed n gai
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL aRCHITECTURE
C oun t er- cur ren t Hea t E xchange Shima Miabadi In the building industr y, sustainabilit y has been a much-hyped topic for long. Due to the growing number of buildings, our resources like water, energy and materials have been producing more and more waste over the years. Each new space created brings for th a dif ferent environmental challenge. In order to reduce that large impac t, the field of sustainable design will tackle the issue at its source. There is no doubt that this is a significant concern that is being addressed by various firms and industries. Bio-analysis is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. Organisms have been able to sur vive and evolve for centuries by using natural resources. Therefore, by studying these organisms, we can simulate their behaviors and per formances in our buildings in order to use less mechanical energy.
4
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
5
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
emperor penguin apteno dy tes forsteri
6
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
7
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
De s c r ip t io n o f t he E mp e r o r Pe n guin The Emperor Penguin is the largest of all penguin species, with no variation bet ween male and female sizes. On average, these penguins reach up to 48 inches in height and could weight any where bet ween 50 to 100 pounds. Besides their large size, they are also distinguishable from their bright-yellow ear patches, which stand out amongst the black and white fur that covers their bodies. Inhabiting Antarc tica, the Emperor Penguin’s diet consists of fish, crustaceans, and squid. Their round bodies and flipper like wings allow the penguins to swim deep into the ocean and stay submerged up to 20 minutes. Their impeccable diving skills are implemented by their hemoglobin, which allows them to func tion at low ox ygen levels. Also, unlike most other birds, penguins have solid bones, adding to their weight to allow them to dive deeper. Lastly, the penguin’s body has the abilit y to reduce metabolism to conser ve as much energy as possible during a dive. fig. 4
The lifespan of an emperor penguin ranges bet ween 20 to 50 years. They t ypically star t breeding at 3-5 years of age, and this continues on a yearly basis. Around March-April, the penguins star t their journey towards land, reaching distances as far as 120 km from the ocean. Once the egg has been laid, it is the male’s job to incubate the egg, while the female travels back to the ocean to feed. Her journey can last up to 2.5 months, which causes the male penguin to lose up to half his weight. When she returns, it is the male penguin’s turn to return to the ocean to feed. The male and female take turns going out to sea for about 3 months, until the chick is ready to be lef t alone. This star ts another c ycle of huddling, this time amongst the chicks to keep warm while their parents are out looking for food.
fig. 5
fig. 1
fig. 2
fig. 3
fig. 6
fig. 1 - Image: http://www.takeprideinutah.org/tag/emperor-penguin fig. 2 - top _ female emperor penguin’s location throughout the year. center _ male emperor penguin’s location throughout the year. bottom _ relationship between the female and male location during the full year. fig. 3 - Merging of male penguins during huddling months. The larger the group of penguins, the easier it is to control their body temperature. The temperature generally ranges from -40 degrees Celcius (light gray), up to 37 degrees Celcius, which is their body temperature (dark gray). The temperatures are also more consistent as the group expands. fig. 4 - Lifecycle of the Emperor Penguin: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PENGUIN LIFECYCLE_H.JPG fig. 5 - Graph of the Emperor penguin huddling pattern during a five day period. fig. 6 - Graph of fluctuations and inconsistencies during the 5 day period.
8
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
9
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
Count er-current Blood F low Penguins have a heat-exchange blood-flow in their feet and flippers. The warm blood entering these regions flows past cold blood leaving so warming it up in the process and cooling the blood entering at the same time. Blood in these par ts is significantly colder than in the rest of the body. By the time the blood re-enters the rest of the body it has been warmed up and so doesn’t have so great an ef fec t on the core body temperature.
Heat G eneration Heat is given off from the core of the module. This exchange heats up the current flowing through the secondary “ar teries”.
fig. 4
Heat Absorption
Output
The reverse effect can happen if the warm current is flowing through the secondary tubes and the main core is cold. Input fig. 5
Absorption
Ar tery
fig. 3
Generation
fig. 2
fig. 1
Vein
fig. 6
fig. 1 - Cardiac anatomy of a penguin: http://dmclf.net/biology/anatomy5.html fig. 2 - Countercurrent blood flow _ transference of heat from one current to another; showing the flow of warm and cold blood from the feet to the core of the body - the heart fig. 3 - left _ without countercurrent heat exchange, warm blood makes it all the way to the foot, resulting in a large heat loss. right _ the intertwining of the arteries and the veins result in heat exchange. Less warm blood will travel to the foot, resulting in a smaller heat loss. fig. 4 - Heat generation diagram. fig. 5 - Heat absorption diagram. fig. 6 - The image on the left represents a primary member that can potentially collect heat and have warm air / liquid running through it. The secondary member can be a collector of gray water, which wraps around the primary member. By using conduction and heat exchange, the water inside the secondary member can be heated and re-used.
10
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
11
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
M o du l e Va r i at io n
Pe r f o r m a n ce Di a gr a m s By mapping these systems together, the global scheme allows for a process of heat absorption and generation. Ultimately, it creates a system that feeds off of one another.
b u ildin g co m p o n e n t s b a se d o n h e at e xc h a n g e expanded
It is noticable that the gray tubes either absorp the most heat, or have to distribute the most heat to their neighboring tubes. This distribution factor provides various scaling oppor tunities within the modular system. interlaced
standard Example 1 - tiling strategy of inter twining members. By using materials and transfer heat easily, we can determine the amount of heat generated from the primary to the secondary member.
compressed
Example 2 - tiling strategy of overlapping members.
12
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
13
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
M o du l a r P op u l at io n f in al m o d ule standard
flat sur face
cur ve d sur face smooth
segular iso
irregular iso
14
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
15
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
S i t e C o n di t io n s Cur ve d Sur face with O f f set regular iso
bridge traffic
school proximity
south & east street view irregular iso
south & east facade
16
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
17
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
S i t e A n a ly s is location
noise
views
traffic
18
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
19
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
Sol ar E xposure
On the eastern and nor thern ends, the building gets the most shade because of the tall apar tment buildings that surround it. Therefore, the openings need to be larger here to get as much sunlight as possible.
The building is mostly exposed to sunlight on the southern and western side. This provides an advantage to collect the most sunlight from these facades.
High
High
Low
Low
South
West
East
Nor th
20
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
21
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
C l im at e A n a ly s is light admission
skin proposal Communication stratey BR
High
BD Kitchen
Irrigation system for roof garden
Grocer y Store
Livingroom
Smaller modules for more privacy
Low
Kitchen Livingroom
BR
BD
Liquor Store
Shading strategy
Cafe
Insulation against noise Residential
wind flow patterns
Commercial
plan orientation
22
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
23
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
Wa l l Op e nin g s
M o du l a r C o mp o s i t io n
east wall proposal I
C
A
B
A
C
B
B
C
B
A
east wall proposal II
B
C
The system of nodes are all interconnected. The size of the nodes, and number of secondary elements that distribute the energy depend on the need for sunlight in the specific space that the nodes are attached to.
24
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
25
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
L igh t in g C o n di t io n s
large modules
medium modules
small modules
26
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
27
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
She l l C o n s t r u c t io n
east
south
west
nor th
28
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
29
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
30
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
31
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
L igh t in g C o n di t io n s
M at e r i a l P r op e r t ie s
The shape of the shell provides shade during high summer sun, and openings during low winter sun.
+
+
A low-frequency soundproofing concrete contains lead spheres coated with silicone rubber. These are used as aggregates, the lead ball being heavy and rigid, and the silicone rubber light and soft. The coaled lead spheres are uniformly embedded into a shor t fibre reinforced cementbased matrix. When a sound wave approaches such a concrete panel, localised excitation in the coated lead balls will be induced at cer tain frequencies. Resonant excitation can consume a considerable amount of energy and thus the sound transmission through the panel at these frequencies can be greatly reduced. Experimental results show that concrete with the embedded coated lead spheres produces resonance at about 150 Hz and also improves the sound insulation at the low frequency range.
32
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
33
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
In t e r io r She l l
E x t e r io r She l l
34
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
35
Warm air is directed through channels in the concrete floor slabs.
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
C o u n t e r - c u r r e n t H e at E x ch a n ge
Waste heat is collected and redirected into a heat tank in the core of the building.
Gray water in the building is collected (combined with rain water) and stored in a water tank.
Water is redirected through tubes enclosed in the channels. The spiral form of the copper tubing not only provides more sur face area, but it also slows down the air flow in order to utilize as much as the hot temperature as possible.
The water tank is wrapped around the heat tank, allowing for heat transfer to take place.
36
ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL
ARCHITECTURE
37
COUNTER-CURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE | Shima Miabadi
s ys t e m o f wat e r a nd he at p ip e s
42
43
44
45
46
47