Joseph Virgone

Bio: Joseph Virgone is an academic researcher from University of Lyon. The author has contributed to research in topics: TRNSYS & Phase-change material. The author has an hindex of 26, co-authored 96 publications receiving 3232 citations. Previous affiliations of Joseph Virgone include Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 & Institut national des sciences Appliquées de Lyon.

Passive building energy savings: A review of building envelope components

Abstract: A significant portion of the total primary energy is consumed by today's buildings in developed countries In many of these buildings, the energy consumption can be significantly reduced by adopting energy efficiency strategies Due to environmental concerns and the high cost of energy in recent years there has been a renewed interest in building energy efficiency This article strives to make an exhaustive technical review of the building envelope components and respective improvements from an energy efficiency perspective Different types of energy efficient walls such as Trombe walls, ventilated walls, and glazed walls are discussed Performance of different fenestration technologies including aerogel, vacuum glazing and frames are presented Advances in energy efficient roofs including the contemporary green roofs, photovoltaic roofs, radiant-transmittive barrier and evaporative roof cooling systems are discussed Various types of thermal insulation materials are enumerated along with selection criteria of these materials The effects of thermal mass and phase change material on building cooling/heating loads and peak loads are discussed Application of thermal mass as an energy saving method is more effective in places where the outside ambient air temperature differences between the days and nights are high Air tightness and infiltration of building envelopes are discussed as they play a crucial role in the energy consumption of a building Energy efficiency approaches sometimes might not require additional capital investment For example, a holistic energy efficient building design approach can reduce the size of mechanical systems compensating the additional cost of energy efficiency features

A review on phase change materials integrated in building walls

Abstract: The present paper is the first comprehensive review of the integration of phase change materials in building walls. Many considerations are discussed in this paper including physical considerations about building envelope and phase change material, phase change material integration and thermophysical property measurements and various experimental and numerical studies concerning the integration. Even if the integrated phase change material have a good potential for reducing energy demand, further investigations are needed to really assess their use.

Advanced control systems engineering for energy and comfort management in a building environment—A review

Abstract: Given restrictions that comfort conditions in the interior of a building are satisfied, it becomes obvious that the problem of energy conservation is a multidimensional one. Scientists from a variety of fields have been working on this problem for a few decades now; however, essentially it remains an open issue. In the beginning of this article, we define the whole problem in which the topics are: energy, comfort and control. Next, we briefly present the conventional control systems in buildings and their advantages and disadvantage. We will also see how the development of intelligent control systems has improved the efficiency of control systems for the management of indoor environment including user preferences. This paper presents a survey exploring state of the art control systems in buildings. Attention will be focused on the design of agent-based intelligent control systems in building environments. In particular, this paper presents a multi-agent control system (MACS). This advanced control system is simulated using TRNSYS/MATLAB. The simulation results show that the MACS successfully manage the user’s preferences for thermal and illuminance comfort, indoor air quality and energy conservation.