Novel Retrofit Technology Incorporating Robots for Lower Energy Healthy Buildings

Novel technologies for retrofit of our ageing stock would enable us to reduce its carbon emission and alleviate fuel poverty in a cost-effective way. This is essential for preservation of the heritage housing stock. The company Q-Bot has developed an innovative system for reducing heat loss through suspended timber floors that applies PU insulation from underneath. A robot is inserted into the floor void, surveys the void and condition of the floor, sprays insulation to the underside of the floor boards, and verifies the area and depth of insulation applied. This keeps the appearance of the floor (which could itself be considered as a heritage element) on the warm dry side, while maintaining ventilation within the floor void. Access can be made through an air vent in the outside wall, or through a small opening in the floor from within the property. This minimises disruption to residents and results in a typical install time of 1-2 days.

Customers such as local authorities value the low-disruption energy performance improvement. However, an important question needs to be addressed: the PU foam itself and its impact on the indoor environment and occupants during the installation and afterwards. The currently used PU foam is sourced from BASF (Walltite) and it appears to contain ~30 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), some with unknown effects on human health. This could potentially create a risk to inhabitants sue to exposure to chemicals that might, in the future, turn out to be (or have been) harmful.

Research questions

1. Following an in-depth literature review, can commercially available PU foams and other sprayable insulation materials be identified that could be used in historic building refurbishment?

2. Can emission rates of selected VOCs be determined under controlled conditions? What are the short, mid and long term impacts of VOCs on health and exposure thresholds in dwellings?

3. Can ventilation modelling be used to analyse the impact of various ventilation design options and ventilation rates on the concentration of selected VOCs? How can energy modelling be optimised to predict the overall effect on energy use?

4. Based on experimental and modelling work, can protocols to mitigate risks during the installation phase and building use be developed and validated in case studies?

The project will be supervised by Professor Mumovic, UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering and Professor Matija Strlic, UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage.

This project is part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage and Archaeology at University College London, University of Oxford and University of Brighton. Please visit the SEAHA website (www.seaha-cdt.ac.uk) for details.

For full details on how to apply, please click on the project advert here:
http://www.seaha-cdt.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/P42-SEAHA-Website-Full-Advert.pdf

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING APPLICATION:
Applications should be sent directly by email to the SEAHA Centre Manager:
[Email Address Removed]

Application deadline: 1st September 2016.

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