Living Lab
At the School of Mechanical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, a pilot building (Living Lab) has been developed for experimental testing of sustainable practices in residential applications, according to the standards of almost zero-consumption homes (Fig. 17(a)). The pilot building has a total floor area of approximately 64 m², consisting of three individual spaces (1×32 m² & 2×16 m²). It houses multiple heating/cooling systems, such as underfloor heating/cooling, fan-coil units (FCU), air conditioning unit as well as electric heating.
The underfloor system comprises seven individual circuits, three in the large room (32 m²) and two small room (16 m²). A wet floor system was used as shown in Fig. 17(b). On the other hand, there are terminal connections for 4 FCUs, two in the large room and one per small room. The underfloor system and FCUs are powered by a common distribution collector. Regarding the heating system. This is based on an experimental reverse heat pump system, which is assisted by a solar vacuum collector field and a biomass boiler, in order to maximize the use of sustainable energy sources.
