Search Results (23)

The false ceiling plenum is a common and essential part of building infrastructure. However, false ceiling infrastructure requires constant maintenance, which is cumbersome and dangerous for humans since they have to work at high heights and conduct repetitive actions for false ceiling panel replacement. As a solution, robots have been developed to inspect false ceilings. However, these robots can fall during navigation in false ceilings, such as in rugged areas. Therefore, this paper discusses the self-righting capabilities implemented on a false ceiling inspection robot known as FalconX. Mechanisms that aid in self-righting the robot back to a moving position after being toppled due to obstacles within the false ceiling environment were explored, along with their force analysis. Simulations were conducted in Gazebo environments and real hardware experiments were conducted to validate the robot’s self-righting capabilities. The experimental results confirm the self-righting capability of the robot. Full article

The global development of LED lighting in all applications for both public and indoor lighting establishes a very important lever for reducing the carbon impact by significantly reducing energy consumption. Smart lighting will therefore constitute an essential lever in the smart city of tomorrow. The latter is more sustainable and less energy-intensive than other light sources, contributing towards the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nations (SDGs 7 and 11). With its ease of integration, ergonomics, lightness, and high quality of light, this innovative light source has two major qualities: its energy efficiency and its long service life. However, poor thermal management has catastrophic effects on these two essential criteria. This necessarily requires optimizing thermal management and heat sinks. In some cases, thermal models and simulations can lead to considerable calculation times because they implement many parameters. This work therefore aims to reduce the number of these simulations by applying the method of experimental designs (Taguchi) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to simulations intended to optimize the dissipation of LED luminaires. We applied the method to a simple finned heat sink model for a unit input power and then to a concrete case of a high-power LED. The control parameters and their respective contributions in the proposed model were studied. The ANOVA results corroborated the conclusions of the Taguchi method, demonstrating a strong agreement between these analytical methods, in which the temperature was adjusted by identifying optimal combinations of parameters. The fields of application relevant to this study include both indoor lighting (false ceiling) and confined spaces with severe sealing constraints such as car headlights or the optical blocks of urban luminaires. Full article

Although the U.S. makes up only 5% of the global population, it accounts for approximately 31% of public mass shootings. Gun violence and mass shootings not only result in loss of life and injury but also inflict lasting psychological trauma, cause property damage, and lead to significant economic losses. We recently developed and published an embedded system prototype for detecting gunshots in an indoor environment. The proposed device can be attached to the walls or ceilings of schools, offices, clubs, places of worship, etc., similar to smoke detectors or night lights, and they can notify the first responders as soon as a gunshot is fired. The proposed system will help to stop the shooter early and the injured people can be taken to the hospital quickly, thus more lives can be saved. In this project, a new custom dataset of blank gunshot sounds is recorded, and a deep learning model using both time and frequency domain features is trained to classify gunshot and non-gunshot sounds with 99% accuracy. The previously developed system suffered from several security and privacy vulnerabilities. In this research, those vulnerabilities are addressed by implementing secure Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) communication protocols for IoT systems, better authentication methods, Wi-Fi provisioning without Bluetooth, and over-the-air (OTA) firmware update features. The prototype is implemented in a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W embedded system platform and successfully tested with blank gunshots and possible false alarms. Full article

The waiting area in dental clinics is a known source of stress for patients. However, positive distractions and comfortable design elements might reduce stress levels and provide mental stimulation while awaiting treatment. While ambient elements might play an important role in patient well-being, few studies have directly explored the impact of various design attributes of dental clinic waiting areas on patients’ perceived stress. This study intended to bridge that gap and employed a discrete choice experiment method where 250 participants randomly selected a block and evaluated six pairs of computer-generated images of dental clinic waiting areas created based on eight interior design attributes with various levels: ambient lighting, false ceiling, window size, window view, indoor plants, wall shape, wall material, and seating options. Each visitor chose their preferred option in relation to its presumed effect on stress mitigation. The results suggest that the presence of ambient lighting, a false ceiling with a nature design, large window dimensions, a nature window view, green indoor plants, a curved wall shape, natural wall materials, and mixed seating options all can contribute to mitigating patients’ perceived stress. Additionally, our findings indicate that age, gender, and education might influence choices across some levels of these variables. Overall, these results might assist architects and designers in shaping clinic environments mitigating patient stress during visits. Further studies would be needed to validate our findings and should also consider additional design attributes, more immersive stimuli presentation technologies, as well as potential differences across cultural contexts. Full article

The cement industry, a key player in globalization and urbanization, has replaced traditional shelters with modern buildings, raising environmental concerns. This study examines the use of cement in construction in Togo, its impact on residents’ thermal comfort, and adaptation strategies for sustainable construction and well-being. The research was conducted in Lomé, Atakpamé, and Kara through documentary research, photography, household surveys, interviews, and temperature recordings, involving 646 households and nine interviews. Findings reveal a high use of cement due to availability, ease of use, strength, affordability, and aesthetics. Cement houses are generally less comfortable than earthen houses, particularly in hot climates. Lomé and Kara experience higher discomfort, while Atakpamé has lower discomfort despite cement dominance. Thermal comfort varies more during the day. Residents adopt strategies like sleeping outside, wearing light clothing, installing awnings and false ceilings, planting trees, staying hydrated, taking cool showers, and ventilating rooms. Full article

In industrial applications, local exhaust systems have been used extensively for capturing and confining contaminants at their source. The present study investigates the efficacy of these systems in mitigating the spread of exhaled pollutants by combining them with mixing and displacement ventilation. Experiments were conducted in a simulated meeting room with six closely situated workstations, featuring five exposed persons (simulated with heated dummies) and one infected person (simulated with a breathing manikin). Six overhead local exhaust units, merged with panels, corresponding to workstations, were installed using a lowered false ceiling. Additionally, a table plenum setting for air inlets was introduced to enhance displacement ventilation effectiveness along with local exhaust systems. Results from 16 experimental cases are presented, using the local air quality index and ventilation effectiveness in the breathing zone. The local exhaust system improved the local air quality at the measuring locations closest to the infector in almost all test scenarios. The improvement, particularly significant with displacement ventilation, marked a maximum 35% increase in the local air quality index adjacent to the infector and 25% in the entire breathing zone of the tested meeting room. Moreover, the table plenum settings, coupled with displacement ventilation, further enhanced conditions in the breathing zone. Under the specific conditions of this investigation, the number of operational local exhausts had a marginal impact on mixing ventilation but a significant one on displacement ventilation tests. The efficacy of local exhaust systems was also influenced by the levels of heat gains present in the room. Overall, the study aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to identify sustainable solutions to mitigate indoor airborne diseases with a combination of supply and local exhaust units. Full article

The annual production of plastic waste worldwide has doubled in just two decades, with approximately 390 million tonnes of plastic waste now being generated. In this context, the construction industry must move towards the development of new, more sustainable materials made under circular economy criteria. In this work, a physico-mechanical characterisation of gypsum composites with the incorporation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) waste, replacing 2–4–6–8–10% by volume of the original raw material, has been conducted. The results show how the incorporation of these plastic wastes improves the water resistance of the gypsum material without additions, as well as producing a decrease in thermal conductivity and greater resistance to impact. On the other hand, it has been found that, as the percentage of recycled raw material added increases, the mechanical resistance to bending and compression decreases, leading to fracture due to a lack of cohesion between the matrix and the waste. Nevertheless, in all the cases studied, mechanical strengths higher than those established by the EN 13279-2 standard were obtained. Thus, the results confirm the viability of these secondary raw materials to be used in the development of new products for sustainable building, especially in the design of prefabricated panels for false ceilings. Full article

In this research work, we aim to study the effect of the incorporation of vegetable fiber reinforcement on the thermo-mechanical and dynamic properties of a composite formed by a polymeric matrix reinforced with cellulosic fibers with the various Washingtonia fiber (WF) loadings (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% by wt%) as reinforced material in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) Biocomposites to evaluate the optimum fiber loading of biocomposites. In addition, several characterization techniques (i.e., thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and thermal mechanical analysis (TMA)) were used to better understand the characteristics of the new composites prepared. With these techniques, we managed to verify the rigidity and thermal stability of the composites so elaborated, as well as the success of the polymer and the structural homogeneity of the obtained biocomposites. Hence, the biocomposite with the best ratio (HDPE/20WF) showed a loss modulus (E″) of 224 MPa, a storage modulus (E′) of 2079 MPa, and a damping factor (Tanδ) of 0.270 to the glass transition (Tg) of 145 °C. In addition, thermomechanical analysis (TMA) of the biocomposite samples exhibited marginally higher Ts compared to the HDPE matrix. The best results were recorded with biocomposites with 20% WF, which showed better thermal properties. This composite material can be used as insulation in construction materials (buildings, false ceilings, walls, etc.). Full article

Plaster is a construction material widely used for the production of prefabricated parts in building construction due to its high capacity for hygrothermal regulation, its good mechanical performance, and its fireproof nature, among other factors. Its historical use has been linked to ornamental elements, although more recent research is oriented towards the industrialisation of plaster composites and the design of prefabricated parts for false ceilings and interior partitions. In this work, the behaviour against water of four new plaster-based composite materials is studied, using additions of two types of super absorbent polymers (sodium polyacrylate and potassium polyacrylate) and a lightening material (vermiculite) in their manufacturing process. In addition, the transmission of water vapour through the samples was studied together with the water absorption capacity of the samples in order to check the suitability of the use of plaster-based materials exposed to these environments. The results of this study show that composites with the addition of super absorbent polymers as well as vermiculite significantly improve their water performance compared to traditional materials up to 7.3% water absorption with a minimal (13%) reduction in mechanical strength compared to current materials with similar additions. In this sense, a plaster material is obtained with wide possibilities of application in the construction sector that favours the development of sustainable and quality buildings, in line with Goal 9 for Sustainable Development included in the 2030 Agenda. Full article

This study presents the retrofit acoustic dq1esign of the Italian theatre “Cavallino Bianco”. In its historical configuration, the hall had a curved roof with a pressed-plant fiber ceiling, which was demolished and replaced with a wooden roof without a false ceiling, leading to an increase in volume and a worsening of the reverberation time. This study proposed the realization of a wave ceiling and the application of sound-absorbing and reflecting panels on the walls, which have already been implemented. These modifications have affected the acoustic characterization of the theatre, as shown both through on-site measurements during the main construction phases and through numerical simulations. The reverberation time, clarity index, and speech transmission index (STI) are evaluated considering all the variations in the hall over different construction times, and the optimal solution is identified with regard to different specific uses. The final configuration with the new roof, by reducing the volume of the hall and using sound-absorbing materials, significantly reduces the reverberation time (e.g., at 2000 Hz, this reduction is from 2.33 to 1.47). In addition, the hall at full capacity with chairs and people shows evident improvement in terms of the clarity index, allowing the theatre to be used for a wide range of musical genres such as instrumental, symphonic, and opera performances. As regards the Combos 00 (concrete roof without vertical sound acoustic panels) and 01-a/b/c (wooden roof with draped curtains), the STI values are never lower than 0.42 and never higher than 0.70; therefore, the room never experiences poor or excellent conditions at any point. The Combos 01-a and 01-b, which have a non-performing C80, have a good STI index, confirming the difficulty of achieving a configuration that can be optimal a variety of uses. Combo 01 (wooden roof without vertical sound acoustic panels and no draped curtains), which has a good C80 value, presents a lower STI value, with an average performance. The STI values of Combo 02-a (characterized by wave false ceiling and vertical sound acoustic panels) are never lower than 0.52 and never higher than 0.60; therefore, neither poor nor excellent conditions are experienced in the room, but there is still a slight improvement over the combos 00 and 01. Full article

Plaster is one of the most used and studied materials in the building process. This paper shows the result of the characterisation of a new plaster-based material enlightened and reinforced with polymers and end-of-life tyres’ recycled materials. As far as end-of-life tyres are a common waste item, this paper offers new recycling possibilities, as well as significant improvements in new building materials. Mechanical, thermal conductivity, sound absorption, fire reaction and environmental impact are studied and analysed. Three different end-of-life tyres’ recycled materials are used, two size rubber and textile fibres. A significant density reduction up to 17% was achieved mainly due to end-of-life materials lower density. Two thermal conductivity measurement methods, heat flux meter and guarded hot plate, were conducted and then compared. A 20% improvement with respect to the reference was achieved in those samples with textile fibre. The two methods’ measurements got a 1% difference in all samples analysed except textile fibre. Thus, this allowed to validate these methods and assure these measurements. Sound absorption was also measured. These materials reached α = 0.32 in high frequencies. Performance in low frequencies were lower. Fire tests led to no ignition results and no fire propagation. Finally, a basic global warming potential impact study based on environmental product declaration (EPD) is conducted. The most relevant result of this study is the potential 20–34% reduction of CO₂ emissions with the elaboration of these composites. Full article

This paper aims to facilitate in the reduction of issues related to agricultural wastes such as disposal and burning by incorporating two widely produced agricultural wastes in Pakistan, i.e., Rice Husk and Wheat Straw, in gypsum false ceiling plates to develop an eco-friendly construction product. There is an increased focus of research on the development of such eco-friendly gypsum products to make the use of gypsum sustainable. Composites containing agricultural residues with four different replacement levels of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% by weight are developed along with a control mix containing 100% gypsum. The physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the developed composites are investigated. Also, the false ceiling plates are made using the developed composites and their flexural behavior is compared with that of the control specimen containing 100% gypsum. The results showed that density and shore C hardness reduced with increasing the amount of agricultural waste while the water absorption remained similar up to a dosage of 7.5%. Except for the 10% wheat straw dosage, flexural and compressive strength of developed composites showed a decrease with the increase of wheat straw and rice husk dosages but remained above the acceptable values of 1 MPa and 2 MPa, respectively, as per BS EN 14246. For the same replacement level, the composites containing wheat straw showed relatively inferior mechanical properties results as compared to those containing rice husk. The thermal conductivity test showed better thermal performance of the composite mixes as compared to the reference mix. The bending test on false ceiling plates showed that all the plates satisfied the minimum flexural strength criteria as per BS EN 14246 and the flexural strength of plates increased up to a replacement level of 5% for both the agricultural wastes. Full article

Periodic inspection of false ceilings is mandatory to ensure building and human safety. Generally, false ceiling inspection includes identifying structural defects, degradation in Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, electrical wire damage, and pest infestation. Human-assisted false ceiling inspection is a laborious and risky task. This work presents a false ceiling deterioration detection and mapping framework using a deep-neural-network-based object detection algorithm and the teleoperated ‘Falcon’ robot. The object detection algorithm was trained with our custom false ceiling deterioration image dataset composed of four classes: structural defects (spalling, cracks, pitted surfaces, and water damage), degradation in HVAC systems (corrosion, molding, and pipe damage), electrical damage (frayed wires), and infestation (termites and rodents). The efficiency of the trained CNN algorithm and deterioration mapping was evaluated through various experiments and real-time field trials. The experimental results indicate that the deterioration detection and mapping results were accurate in a real false-ceiling environment and achieved an 89.53% detection accuracy. Full article

False ceilings are often utilised in residential and commercial spaces as a way to contain and conceal necessary but unattractive building infrastructure, including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services. Concealing such elements has made it difficult to perform periodic inspection safely for maintenance. To complement this, there have been increasing research interests in mobile robots in recent years that are capable of accessing hard-to-reach locations, thus allowing workers to perform inspections remotely. However, current initiatives are met with challenges arising from unstructured site conditions that hamper the robot’s productivity for false ceiling inspection. The paper adopts a top-down approach known as “Design for Robots”, taking into account four robot-inclusive design principles: activity, accessibility, safety, observability. Falcon, a class of inspection robots, was used as a benchmark to identify spatial constraints according to the four principles. Following this, a list of false ceiling design guidelines for each category are proposed. Full article

This paper refers to the study of the Voyatzis mansion, in the port of Aegina, Greece. The building complex consists of two discrete structures, which were built at different times (before 1830, 1880 and 1890) and have housed either the Voyatzis family home or its business and work premises. The present research is focused on the documentation of the building, which was never published, and combines the architectural form and elements within its historical context as well as the physicochemical analysis of the painted decoration. The key hypothesis investigated is whether Konstantinos Voyatzis transferred the aesthetic approach and application techniques from Symi to Aegina, when he emigrated from his birthplace. The documentation of the ceiling decoration as well as the physicochemical study of the second floor’s internal wall painting decoration in the main rooms was carried out using in situ modern hyperspectral imaging in specific wavelengths of the visible and near-infrared region, as well as in false color infrared mode. Complementary SWIR imaging, using an InGaAs sensor at the range 900–1700 nm was also applied. The assumption was supported by the findings of the imaging techniques, which showed, apart from the secco method, the use of traditional pigments for the wall paintings, such as cobalt blue, brown, red and yellow earth pigments, chrome oxide green and black, sometimes in admixture with white. The use of guidelines and stencil in the case of the hallway was also recorded. Full article