Zoltan Nagy

In a European context, energy standards in the built environment have made a valuable contribution to the sustainability of the industry over the past twenty years. The current cycle focuses predominantly on the thermal properties of the building envelope. As space heating and cooling with domestic water heating, currently accounts for 60% of global energy consumption in buildings, this aspect will remain a key mechanism for building energy improvements. When considering 2050 energy targets… Show more

In a European context, energy standards in the built environment have made a valuable contribution to the sustainability of the industry over the past twenty years. The current cycle focuses predominantly on the thermal properties of the building envelope. As space heating and cooling with domestic water heating, currently accounts for 60% of global energy consumption in buildings, this aspect will remain a key mechanism for building energy improvements. When considering 2050 energy targets, significant energy efficiency improvements will be required for new and renovated buildings in the next 5 – 10 years.
This research investigates the constraints placed on modern architecture by the influence of building energy regulation in the context of the HiLo module at NEST. Current building regulations are encouraging a convergence towards heavily insulated enclosures with minimised glazing, with the key design parameter being geometrical compactness. This assumes that the operational energy costs outweigh the costs of the embodied energy in the building materials and the construction process. As the building energy codes become increasingly severe for building designers, it is essential that innovation is central to architecture and regulatory assessment procedures become more sophisticated.
The goal of the HiLo module is to investigate if sustainable design related the total building lifecycle (BLC), rather than solely determined by an operational energy saving approach, will enhance architecturally and structurally challenging projects. This paper highlights the importance of the adaption of an early stage integrated design approach. In addition, it will demonstrate that considering the BLC will lead to more advanced sustainability focused outcomes for the built environment, without placing overbearing restrictions on architecture.

Keywords: Energy, Buildings, Integrated Design, Building Lifecycle. Show less

In a European context, energy standards in the built environment have made a valuable contribution to the sustainability of the industry over the past twenty years. The current cycle focuses predominantly on the thermal properties of the building envelope. As space heating and cooling with domestic water heating, currently accounts for 60% of global energy consumption in buildings, this aspect will remain a key mechanism for building energy improvements. When considering 2050 energy targets… Show more

In a European context, energy standards in the built environment have made a valuable contribution to the sustainability of the industry over the past twenty years. The current cycle focuses predominantly on the thermal properties of the building envelope. As space heating and cooling with domestic water heating, currently accounts for 60% of global energy consumption in buildings, this aspect will remain a key mechanism for building energy improvements. When considering 2050 energy targets, significant energy efficiency improvements will be required for new and renovated buildings in the next 5 – 10 years.
This research investigates the constraints placed on modern architecture by the influence of building energy regulation in the context of the HiLo module at NEST. Current building regulations are encouraging a convergence towards heavily insulated enclosures with minimised glazing, with the key design parameter being geometrical compactness. This assumes that the operational energy costs outweigh the costs of the embodied energy in the building materials and the construction process. As the building energy codes become increasingly severe for building designers, it is essential that innovation is central to architecture and regulatory assessment procedures become more sophisticated.
The goal of the HiLo module is to investigate if sustainable design related the total building lifecycle (BLC), rather than solely determined by an operational energy saving approach, will enhance architecturally and structurally challenging projects. This paper highlights the importance of the adaption of an early stage integrated design approach. In addition, it will demonstrate that considering the BLC will lead to more advanced sustainability focused outcomes for the built environment, without placing overbearing restrictions on architecture.

Keywords: Energy, Buildings, Integrated Design, Building Lifecycle. Show less

Advances in both capabilities and miniaturization of medical devices offer promising prospects for medical treatments. Applications range from simple diagnosis to complex treatment tools. Miniature untethered robotic devices are playing a central role within this growing trend, and devices are becoming available on the market. However, one of the biggest challenges is the localization of these devices within the human body in order to close the control loop. This paper presents the design and… Show more

Advances in both capabilities and miniaturization of medical devices offer promising prospects for medical treatments. Applications range from simple diagnosis to complex treatment tools. Miniature untethered robotic devices are playing a central role within this growing trend, and devices are becoming available on the market. However, one of the biggest challenges is the localization of these devices within the human body in order to close the control loop. This paper presents the design and fabrication of a novel device for localization based on acoustic transducers. The individual microfabricated MEMS components are assembled using a state-of-the-art 6-DOF micromanipulation system in order to meet the high-precision requirements. First position determination experiments have successfully proven the concept with results on the order of submillimeters. Show less