INTELLIGENT BUILDING
The buildings acquire functions that are not limited only to the architectural aspects but that give weight to the series of PLANTS AND SERVICES connected to the structure and necessary to create the optimal conditions for living and working. So the building is increasingly the sum of two combinations:
BUILDING STRUCTURE
(CONSTANT OVER TIME) + SYSTEMS STRUCTURE
(VARIABLE OVER TIME)
SPECIAL ATTENTION OF DESIGNERS TO:
NETWORKS THAT CROSS THE STRUCTURE:
USE OF THE RAISED FLOOR SYSTEM ALLOWS A GREATER AGILITY IN PLANT DEVELOPMENT
Electrical systems
All those services of energy distribution, telecommunications, regulation, energy management, fire safety, anti-intrusion, computer networks necessary in a hi-tech building are grouped under the generic name of electrical systems.
Unlike conventional electrification systems these run in the underfloor plenum and, in addition to being
Among the various installation techniques of systems for the distribution of various electrical services, that of underfloor distribution has aroused a progressive interest in the design of buildings for both the advanced and civil service sectors, as well as in renovations or modifications to buildings due to the variation of intended uses.
The systems offered by the market are generally characterized by:
Air conditioning systems
The raised floor allows the use of air conditioning units with direct expansion, or chilled water of the “downflow” type with delivery of the air under the floor and return to the environment.
This type of conditioning is characterized by:
The underfloor air conditioning technology is applied to rooms divided into zones, each of which is served by a central unit located in the same area, called Cam, which treats the air and distributes it, through the underfloor plenum, to the terminal units or satellites which includes the automatic regulation system for controlling the entire served area and switching the heating cycle to the cooling cycle and vice versa. Since all the plant components are assembled in the workshop, the installation intervention, limited to the hydraulic and electrical connections, is consequently simple and quick. The air not drawn from the terminal units returns to the central treatment unit through a by-pass opening located in the underfloor plenum between the end of the delivery circuit and the beginning of the return one.
In normal operating conditions, the damper of the terminal unit draws air from the underfloor plenum; when the environment reaches the right thermo hygrometric level, the thermostatic adjustment of the terminal unit changes the setting of the damper that recirculates ambient air, until requested otherwise. The electronic regulation also includes the control of the damper switching. The terminal units can be vertical or horizontal underfloor, have an electronic modulating adjustment of the air flow, can be equipped with an electric battery. But above all, they can be repositioned very easily as they only need the electrical connection, having no hydraulic connections and having no interdependence with the central Cam unit. The shutters of the terminal units are equipped with an adjustable by-pass to allow the introduction of fresh air into the environment.
The raised floor constitutes a multipurpose plenum, used for the distribution and housing of all services: in practice, it accommodates the entire arterial system of an intelligent building. A net height of the plenum box of 250 mm is advisable, but a minimum of 200 mm is also acceptable; under standard conditions a circuit can have an equivalent length of 80 m; the air intake grilles from the environment are walkable, modular and contained in a raised floor panel and are specially designed to be easily repositioned like the terminal units.