Engineering today 54

august 2016 ISSUE 54

Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehousent page 06

Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block page 18

24th Annual

Engineering Conference

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Intelligent Retrofitting of a Primary School Building in Malta page 28

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august 2016 ISSUE 54

Contents 03 04 From the Editor

From the President

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38

Intelligent Retrofitting of a Primary School Building in Malta

IEEE Distinguished Lecturer on Fuzzy Logic Systems visits Malta

www.coe.org.mt

06 Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse

18

Cover Image

Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block

42 24th Annual Engineering Conference Intelligent Buildings An office or other building containing a set of integrated services such as heating, lighting, electronic office equipment, etc., controlled by a central computer system which is capable of ensuring the most efficient and sound use of resources. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com)

Editor

Dr Inġġ. Brian Azzopardi Eur. Ing.

Editorial Board

Inġ. Norman Zammit Eur. Ing. Inġġ. Pierre Ciantar Prof. Dr Inġ. Robert Ghirlando

Chamber of Engineers, Professional Centre, Sliema Road,Gzira, GZR 1633, Malta

Email: info@coe.org.mt Web: www.coe.org.mt

© Chamber of Engineers 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Chamber of Engineers - Malta.

Opinions expressed in Engineering Today are not necessarily those of the Chamber of Engineers - Malta. All care has been taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the Editorial Board cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in the articles, pictographs or illustrations.

Design by: Printing: Print It Ltd. |

Distribution: Maltapost Plc.

1

From the Editor Dear Readers, This year, the 24th Annual Engineering Conference was entitled Intelligent Buildings and this issue is dedicated for it. Our digital era is taking us to the future with Intelligent Buildings or sometimes also called Smart Building. But hang on – actually this is the present!

We probably already have at least one device that is intelligent and sits in our building or pockets which may well be in our office, workplace or our homes. Or if we don’t, we already have the infrastructure and devices that may make this happen such as our smart phones and smart TVs and internet availability with quite fast connections.

Or do we need robots to make our buildings intelligent? Well this may be debatable and opens into integrating a human created digital persona into our living space. Would you feel comfortable? Most of all we need timely decisions to be taken if possible automatically or at the very least supported.

In this issue, three full article contributions from the conference are presented. The first article “Technology Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse” demonstrates the challenges and specific requirements in pharmaceutical industry such as European Union guidelines practices, design, environment control and insurances aspects which all in all bring about an energy efficient building and if well controlled, yes, an intelligent industrial building.

“Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block” is a semi-technical article highlighting the benefits of a number of retrofit alternatives in an apartment block at each level from ground floor to middle to top level. The article concludes that middle levels may not have as much benefits on alternatives as top and bottom levels, nevertheless once again energy efficiency is a key component of the analysis.

The third article focuses on energy efficiency in public space, this time, a Primary School Building. If all schools may transfer the basic knowledge of energy conservation to our next generation, Malta would be flourishing with green concepts and potential future ideas. I would have only dreamt to have such a school in my Primary School days! The study also suggests through other sources that zero carbon emissions may be possible together with a return on investment.

Our “Social Sections” reports the Conference with a collage of photos – let us see who the camera caught! The IEEE Section covers Prof. Hani Hagras: IEEE distinguished lecturer on Artificial Intelligence a tutorial in the series of Time-Out sessions at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta, Msida. He was also a keynote speaker at the Conference.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue and I would like to say a word on this issue as my last Editorial.

Just over two years ago I was invited to become the Editor of the Engineering Today. It was a voluntary job and I was very proud to accept which exposed me to challenging and interesting experiences. The Engineering Today has long been the unique magazine in Malta covering engineering and technical articles and activities. When I joined the Engineering Today had just lost a valuable editor Inġ. John Pace. It was my honour to continue his stared works.

I was very conscious that I was joining the only national platform where the local Engineering and Technology is dissiminated. It seemed to me important to make submission experience more swiftly, which we did through the Chamber of Engineers online portal, and bringing a new style of the magazine for the publication with a more colourful and bold design. However I owe an apology for the failure of assuring timely publications as an Editor, which unfortunately have not been always possible mainly due to the delays experienced in publishing that in fact are beyond the control of the Editor and Editorial board because of the unchanged operational structures.

During the last two years Engineering Today has published several issues and numerous semi-technical articles all to acceptable standard of the Magazine. We have also covered a number of activities such as those by the IEEE Malta Section, the Annual Engineering Conferences and the Annual Engineering Excellence Awards.

Finally, I wish the new Editor and Editorial board encouragement, strength and inspiration in their work. I sincerely wish to thank for their support the President of the Chamber of Engineers and the current Editorial Board members as well as all the contributors who submitted their interesting articles.

Wish to all the readers a very pleasant summer.

Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi Eur. Ing. The Editor, Engineering Today, Chamber of Engineers

3

From the President Dear Colleagues, Summer is approaching fast with many of us planning their summer break and finding the time to relax and to relieve some pressure from work. The issues related to our profession, however, remain on the agenda of the Council whose work continues without let throughout summer.

Amendments to the Engineering Act The amendments to the Engineering Act remain high on the agenda. The amendments have two causes. The first is the European Commission EU pilot concerning infringements arising from the Engineering Profession Act (Chap 321) and the Periti Act (Chap 390) (EU Pilot is a scheme designed to resolve compliance problems without having to resort to infringement proceedings). The second cause is the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications Directive 2013/55/EU. The Chamber Council held other meetings and exchanged communications with the Engineering Board and with the Director from the Office of the Permanent Secretary - Policy Development Directorate within the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

At the time of transposition of the directive no consultations were made with constituted bodies like the Chamber of Engineers, not even with the Engineering Board. We understand that this situation was inherited by the present Ministry and hence nothing can be done at this stage since the directive is now in effect.

Nevertheless, in a meeting held on Thursday 3rd March 2016 and subsequently on the 2nd June 2016 regarding the proposed amendments by the NCFHE for the Engineering Profession Act Chap 321 under the Omnibus Act to transpose EU Directive 2013/55/EU that was followed up by a communication from the Chamber, the Chamber wanted to register its final position as follows.

Although the Chamber understands the position of the NCFHE with regards to its obligation to transpose the EU Directive into local legislation, the Chamber still expressed its full disagreement to the proposed amendments for the following reasons: 1. The introduction of the concept of ‘Lifelong learning’ is a dangerous assumption in that it induces one to believe that a person can be transformed into a competent engineer through experience alone or by some form of unstructured learning. .

As stated by FEANI (European Federation of Engineering Associations) through its President in an Educational

4

Conference entitled: “Education of Engineers – Key Task for the successful European Future in 2014, quote ‘Engineers require, apart from experience, a good academic foundation on which to build their experience.’ Unquote. He went on to state further that quote ‘Innovation/CPD and a quality academic background are the base that make a good Engineer’. Unquote.

The Chamber of Engineers, as the National Monitoring Committee for FEANI, strongly subscribes to the principles expressed by the President of FEANI and believes that academic knowledge cannot be acquired solely through ‘lifelong learning’ and experience.

Furthermore, the Chamber believes that if the Engineering Board relaxed its standards in the award of warrants, then compromise to public health and safety would certainly follow.

2. The Chamber also registered its objection to lowering the requirement of work experience from 2 years to 1year for any candidate from countries where the profession is not regulated. This objection was intended to strengthen the views expressed in (1) above, namely to safeguard public health and safety.

In general the Chamber is disappointed and seriously concerned that the proposed amendments might act as a catalyst to further amendments to local legislation; amendments that are not required by EU law transposition but intended only to accommodate individuals who might not be eligible for the warrant and who would use all means possible, licit or illicit, to obtain same, and this to the detriment of the profession and the quality of service rendered to society at large.

Engineers should endeavour to be the catalysts of change and innovation and should be the guardians of quality and integrity within Society. Any professional is defined by his/ her actions within the social environment. This behaviour is governed by ethics. The Code of Ethics issued by the Chamber of Engineers is entrenched in the law under Chap 321. In order for this to be maintained the principles upon which the Engineering Act was written need to be upheld.

The International Sphere Another important item that is being addressed by the Chamber is the work being done by the EU commission on a directive for Common Training Framework for Professions.

In line with this directive FEANI has organised a Stakeholder

Workshop on Common Training Principles for Engineers which will be held on the 30th June 2016 and which will be attended by our Secretary for International Affairs. .

The European Commission, DG GROW, has contracted the European Council of Engineers Chambers (ECEC) to look into the development of proposals for common training principles for engineers (CTP) covering all EEA countries and Switzerland.

The concept of CTP in Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications offers the possibility to extend the mechanism of automatic recognition to new professions on the basis of commonly agreed training principles.

In order to find regulatory commonalities and differences and thus possible approaches for CTP, ECEC conducted a survey about the national regulatory frameworks of five focus professions (civil and environmental engineers, mechanical and industrial engineers, electro technology engineers, mining engineers and geodetic surveyors).

This workshop, based on the results of the survey, is the start of a broad stakeholder discussion on the best approach to an agreement on common training principles for engineers.

Chamber of Engineers - Guidelines for Public Events The Chamber noted with satisfaction that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority were entrusted with the role to oversee the safety during public events. In this way a regulatory framework is now in place.

Engineering Degrees issued by University of Malta, MCAST and other Institutions The Chamber of Engineers is keeping a keen eye on the issue and hopes that, in the best interest of the students and society at large, the process of equalisation between the degrees issued by the different institutions will begin soon.

Ethics and the engineering profession The Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has presented a revised version of the Code of Ethics to the Chamber for its review and feedback. The Council is undergoing analysis of this document that will be issued for consultation amongst its members prior to final implementation.

Professional development of Engineers As stated on various occasions, the Chamber of Engineers is planning to issue a white paper on the implementation and promotion of Continual Professional Development.

This is in line with the initial guidance document issued by the Federation of Professional Associations following the introduction of the Services Directive by the EU. The white paper will form the basis for the framework to be implemented by the Chamber.

A subcommittee within the Council has been setup for this purpose and is composed as follows:

Chairperson: Ing. Helga Pizzuto Members: Ing. Joe Camilleri (Chairman – MGPEI) Dr. Ing. Daniel Micallef Prof Dr. Ing. Paul Micallef (from the Chamber Council) Ing. Helga Pizzuto will extend an invitation to Prof Jean-Paul de Lucca to sit on the committee as the final member. Prof De Lucca has vast academic experience in the field.

As the white paper is required for the implementation of the amendments to the Engineering Profession Act as well as a fundamental requirement defined under the Services Directive of the European Union, we wish the committee good speed in their task ahead and hope to have the first draft by end Q4 2016.

Conclusions With unrelenting challenges ahead for our profession, the Chamber is always seeking professionals who are ready to devote some of their time for the benefit of our profession.

The Council on its own and its sub-committees are not sufficient unless the members are ready to lend their support.

Your contribution in any sector is always appreciated.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Inġ. Norman Zammit B. Elec. Eng. (Hons.), M.Sc. (Brunel), Eur. Ing., CBIFM President, Chamber of Engineers

August 2016 ISSUE 54

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Joseph M. Farrugia, Actavis Ltd, joseph.farrugia@actavis.com

ABSTRACT The storage of medicinal products for human use has specific requirements. Construction material, innovative for Malta, such as pre-cast, pre-stressed wall elements and post-tensioned flooring help meet some of these conditions. Mobile pallet racking systems provided a dense pallet storage solution with better utilisation of the space available. Air conditioning and associated control systems were installed to control temperature and humidity.

An ‘Envelope Concept’ was implemented in the main storage area to address temperature distribution. Temperature mapping exercises and environmental monitoring system are used to check and monitor the efficacy of the installed systems. The warehouse management system and the building intelligence gained through it are presented.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical warehouse de-sign, mobile pallet racking, climate control, temperature mapping, warehouse man-agement, pre-cast pre-stressed wall panels, post-tensioned flooring

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1 INTRODUCTION Over the past decade the Actavis site in Bulebel, Malta has been expanding both its manufacturing and packaging activities within its existing footprint. Most of these projects dealt with the redevelopment of existing warehousing space into manufacturing and packaging areas.

It soon became evident that the site needed to increase its warehousing capacity to support the increased activity and to make up for the storage floor space utilised by the various expansion projects. This requirement was further amplified by the fact that within the Actavis Group, Bulebel became a site for launching new generic products into Europe on day one of patent expiry with the associated stock piling.

A brief was issued to design, construct, commission and qualify a new pharmaceutical warehouse with the following characteristics: -- The new building had to be compliant with the European Union’s guidelines on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) [1] and Good Distribution Practice (GDP) [2].

-- The design had to meet the site’s current requirements for warehousing with the option to increase the storage capacity to meet future demand.

-- Most of the warehousing activities had to be relocated to this new building.

-- All warehousing area had to be temperature and humidity controlled.

-- It had to be an energy efficient building.

-- The building had to meet the requirements of our property insurer.

The “state-of-the-art” new warehouse was completed in June 2014 with an investment of close to €13 million. This paper presents a brief overview of the technologies selected to accomplish this important project for the Actavis site in Bulebel.

2 BUILDING CHARATERISTICS 2.1 The Layout The warehouse was built on a footprint of 4,830m² on a site of 7,020 m². The north part of the building is on two levels, while the south part is on three levels bringing the total floor area to 6,660 m². The 2,160 m² high rise part of this building has an internal height of 12.2m.

The following main functional areas can be found on the ground floor (refer to figure 1): -- A receiving bay for receiving all starting materials -- A sampling area with a state of the art sampling complex with down-flow containment booths. These prevent contamination or cross-contamination of the product being sampled, and provide a safe working environment (OEL of <100µg/m³ TWA) for the sampler -- the high rising storage area -- a cold storage area -- connection corridors linking the warehouse to the manufacturing and packaging area -- an export bay to handle all the finished goods being dispatched from the site 2.2 Building Envelope One of the requirements was to control the temperature and humidity in all warehousing area; hence it was important that the selected materials provided low heat transmission and low permeability to moisture. It was also important that the columns and beams in the main storage area were kept to a minimum to enable better utilisation of the available space.

Ease of maintenance was also a very important criterion in the construction material selection.

After a number of iterations, pre-cast pre-stressed concrete columns, beams, hollow core roof panels and insulated wall panels were selected as the main elements of construction for this building. The insulated wall panels were use in the high rise part of this building while a combination of concrete

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Continued

Figure 1:

Ground layout indicating the function of the respective area and material & personnel flows

Figure 2:

Typical horizontal section of Pre-Cast, Pre-Stressed Wall panels (U-value – 0.28 W/m²K)

hollow blocks and insulation was used in other areas. All the roof and hollow brick wall combinations used had a vapour control layer. All external elements were designed to have a heat transfer coefficient below 0.3 W/m²K. Typical wall and roof sections are illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.

The wall panels were a bespoke design for this project and an innovation for Malta. They were designed to meet the site’s specific internal climatic conditions and other structural and

8

Figure 3:

Typical roof section (U-value – 0.25W/m²K)

constructability requirements. This resulted in a 12m high wall panel with a thickness of only 300mm, of which 120mm was insulation. Most of the panels had a width of 2.4 m. These insulated wall panels improved constructability and reduced the amounts of joints between the various wall elements.

Table 1:

Comparison of options considered

Figure 4:

Bottleneck and Traffic Analysis

Figure 5:

The Mobile Racking System

2.3 Post-Tension Flooring One of the major challenges encountered in previous projects was to have a floor with few movement joints and reduced shrinkage cracks. This is a very important quality for a floor in the pharmaceutical industry since it would facilitate cleaning.

Post-tensioned flooring addresses these challenges as it reduces or eliminates shrinkage cracking. Therefore no movement joints, or fewer joints, are needed, and if cracks do form they are held tightly together. [3] Post-tensioning, a recent introduction to Malta, is a method used for reinforcing concrete. Post-tensioning tendons, consisting of anchorages and couplers, pre-stressing steel cables, and plastic sheathing or duct, are positioned in the formwork before the concrete is poured. The cables are tensioned and anchored against the outer edges of the concrete once the concrete has achieved a predetermined strength but prior to the application of the service loads. [4] 3 RACKING SYSTEM 3.1 System Selection The high rising part of the warehouse has a usable height of 10.6 m. The following three racking systems were considered for this area: a. A standard wide aisle pallet racking system using Reach Truck. The site was familiar with this since it had used similar systems in other storage areas. This racking system is easy to implement and operate and it does not require tight floor level tolerance. As shown in Table 1, this option provided the smallest number of pallet locations. b. A narrow aisle pallet racking system with very narrow aisle (VNA) Trucks. Due to the width of the aisle the trucks require guiding while travelling in the aisle. Since racking was to a height of about 10 m, a very tight floor level tolerance is required. c. A mobile pallet racking system using Reach Trucks. This solution adopts electronically controlled heavy duty mobile pallet racking system that runs on embedded rails, providing a dense pallet storage solution. Such systems do not require a very tight floor level tolerance. One of the disadvantages of mobile racking is that not all aisles are accessible at a point in time.

The current pallet capacity required for the activities being transferred to the new warehouse was calculated at 4,000 pallets. The pallet capacity for the three options is shown in Table 1.

Only the Mobile Racking option provided the required capacity to meet the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current needs and its future demands. However, this solution raised concerns with the warehouse throughput since not all the aisles are available at a given point in time.

A study was commissioned to analyse material movement, resource requirements, traffic and bottlenecks (refer to Figure 4) with a mobile racking system with two aisle simultaneously accessible. The study concluded that, although the proposed layout did create some areas with high traffic, it did not have an adverse effect on the warehouse throughput.

The racking was designed to allow phased implementation in line with increasing storage demands and a racking for 4,128 euro pallet locations was initially installed (refer to Figure 5).

3.2 Racking System Intelligence The required aisle is selected by means of a remote control

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Continued

on each of the reach trucks used in this area. Direct drive mechanisms are utilised on each mobile base, while variable frequency drive ensure gentle and precise starting and stopping of the mobile racks.

Modern sensor techniques register all potential source of danger and stop the mobiles immediately. Four beams of different height are installed across the access area of each racking installation. Each beam uses a dual-beam light curtain to ensure the safety of all personnel and equipment entering the aisle. The system ‘remembers’ everyone going in and it can only move its mobiles after every worker and forklift truck has exited the aisle.

Additionally a light barrier along the base secures against over-running of personnel, trucks and goods.

The lighting system in the high rise area has been designed for integration with the mobile racking control system. With this feature only the lighting associated with the opened aisles is on at any point in time; thereby saving on energy cost.

The racking system is also integrated with the fire detection system. When the latter system is triggered, the racking system would adopt the sprinkler mode. This increases the spacing in between the racked goods to enhance the sprinkler water penetration.

A night mode is also available. It operates in a similar manner

to the sprinkler mode to improve air circulation during silent hours. A stock control mode, which opens three aisles simultaneously in each block, facilitates ‘stock taking’.

4 CLIMATE CONTROL 4.1 Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System In line with both relevant EU guidelines which state that storage areas should maintained within acceptable temperature limit [1] [2] and the Actavis guidelines, presented in Figure 6, the warehouse was designed with a HVAC system to control the temperature in all warehousing areas. Since our local experience has shown that, if uncontrolled, the internal humidity would tend to follow the external conditions, it was decided that the new system should be able to control the humidity to an upper limit.

The HVAC system supporting the warehouse consists of 6 subsystems (refer to Figure 7 for a schematic diagram of this HVAC system).

All fresh air is treated to the required condition by a fresh air unit, which would then supply the pre-treated fresh air to the subsystems as needed.

The subsystem supplying the main storage area is made up of two air-handlers, each of which can handle 60% of the load.

This would ensure that each Air Handling Unit (AHU) can cope with the demand throughout most of the year, allowing

Figure 6:

Actavis’ Guideline Value for Critical Temperature and Humidity in Warehouses

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Continued

Figure 7:

Schematic Diagram of HVAC System

12

for maintenance. To ensure that the unloading and loading operations do not influence the climatic conditions in the other areas, the receiving and export areas are supplied by dedicated HVAC systems.

The chilled water and low temperature hot water (LTHW) utilised by the system are generated by a shared system, providing these utilities to both the manufacturing and warehousing areas. Since the site has simultaneous need for chilled water and hot water due to dehumidification, the air cooled water chillers are equipped with heat reclaim capabilities. The LTHW is generated as a by-product of the chilled water system for most of the year. This saves energy while maintaining the required conditions.

--

4.2 Envelope Concept The storage density of the mobile racking posed a good challenge to the HVAC consultants and Actavis. The design team was required to design a system that delivered an even temperature and humidity distribution throughout the storage areas.

The conditioned air is supplied by using air diffusers close to the ceiling and using jet nozzles around the perimeter of the racking system. The return air diffusers are located at a high level at either end, towards the centre of the high rise storage area. This creates an envelope of conditioned air around the racking system, hence, the nickname Envelope Concept.

Figures 8 and 9 provide an overview of the concept.

--

4.3 HVAC Controls The Building Management System (BMS) that controls the HVAC is based on networked industrial programmable logic controllers (PLCs) on a dedicated LAN, off-the-shelf field devices and controllers and a SCADA application. The decision to go for non-proprietary BMS components was taken in 2002 when the site started its redevelopment project, to ensure sustainability of the selected system. This principle has been adhered to in all the HVAC upgrade projects that followed. The warehouse project was no exception, and the control system was integrated into the BMS that controls the manufacture, packaging and other storage areas. The system now counts a total of 19 PLC’s and associated control cubicles.

Through a graphical user interface the following functions and parameters are controlled or maintained by this system (refer to Figure 10):

Figure 8:

Envelope Concept – Section

------

The start-up and shutdown of all AHUs, desiccant dryers and exhaust fans All temperature and humidity loops The air-flow loops that ensure that the commissioned air flow is maintained through the use of variable speed drives as the filters age The chilled water and LTHW generation and distribution systems The trending and historical data storage of critical parameters such as temperature, humidity, airflow and water chiller parameters The maintenance of event and alarm logs, and relays critical alarms to assigned personnel through SMS and email User access control and audit trail

4.4 Temperature Mapping The European Commission Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use requires that an initial temperature mapping exercise is performed on all storage areas before use, under representative conditions.

[2] This study would also determine the location of the environment monitoring system (EMS) devices described in section 4.5.

The initial study was part of the warehouse Qualification Project Plan. The study was performed by installing 33 calibrated temperature and humidity loggers distributed all over the storage area. At each selected location three loggers were installed to monitor the conditions at three different height levels. It was performed over 7 consecutive days and included periods of high and low activities. As part of the site’s Qualification Master Plan, three further mapping exercises have been performed and the four exercises are summarised in Table 2.

Figure 9:

Envelope Concept – Plan View

August 2016 ISSUE 54

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Continued

Figure 11:

Typical EMS Screenshot

Figure 10:

Typical BMS Screenshot

The Mean Kinetic Temperature (MKT) is calculated for each location during these studies and is one of the utilised ‘acceptance criteria’.

The MKT is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and is a simplified way of expressing the overall effect of temperature fluctuations during storage or transit of perishable goods. The International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) stability testing guideline defines (MKT) as “a single derived temperature which, if maintained over a defined period, would afford the same thermal challenge to a drug substance or drug product as would have been experienced over a range of both higher and lower temperatures for an equivalent defined period.” [5] 4.5 Environment Monitoring System The site is equipped with an Environment Monitoring System (EMS) that continuously monitors the temperature and humidity in various areas deemed essential to assure the product quality. The EMS is independent from the BMS and its only function is to monitor these parameters.

The system implemented in this building is based on wireless

temperature and humidity transmitters, receivers, base stations and a network server and is monitoring temperature and humidity in 16 locations in this warehouse.

This system has the following features and benefits: -- Transmitters can be installed on mobile racking and they can be easily relocated if operational conditions are modified -- Devices can be added at will with no interruption to logging -- Data captured within the devices is stored on a server for historical analysis and audit trails -- Maintenance of an alarm log and instant relay of alarms via email and SMS. This ensures that alarm conditions are notified to the relevant responsible personnel immediately -- The functionality to view data using graphs, tables and plan view layouts. Figure 11 is a screenshot of data presented in ‘plan view layout’ -- User access control and multiple users with different access levels 5 WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is the heart of the site operation as it helps the organisation to manage

Table 2:

Summary of Various Temperature Mapping Exercises

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Technological Innovation in a Pharmaceutical Warehouse Continued

Figure 12:

Typical Raw Material Label

the supply chain, procurement, inventory, finance, warehouse management (WMS), manufacturing execution (MES) and other mission-critical components of the business.

This paper only highlights some of the important functions of the WMS. It starts managing the warehousing activities from the material receipt. It compares and links the incoming goods with the respective purchase order, generates an internal batch number, assigns a status, prints identification labels with material data and the associated barcode. This barcode is extensively used to track the movement, status and location of this material as it is transformed by the various processes. A typical label is illustrated in Figure 12. The barcode includes the product, container and batch numbers and hence the WMS can track the status of each container.

Through the WMS the building gains further intelligence.

Here are some examples: -- Once the incoming goods are entered into the system, it notifies procurement and quality that the said material has been received. This would trigger material sampling -- It only allows un-sampled material to be stored in designated areas such as the pre-sampling area -- It only allows material requiring cold storage to be located in the cold-room -- Once sampled the material status is changed to ‘Quarantined’ and it can be transferred to the main storage area. Since storage locations are barcoded, as illustrated in Figure 13, a mobile computer with integrated scanner is used to register the storage location in the WMS. To prevent mix-ups, the system ensured that the ‘One-Item-One-Location’ rule is

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Figure 12:

Typical Raw Material Label

--

--

-----

respected at all time.

WMS enables the warehouse to adopt a ‘Releasein-Place’ principle. The material shall remain in one location until it is requested or rejected. This principle avoids having a designated area for quarantined material and the double handling of materials.

Material pick-lists are generated by production based on their plan. The system selects approved materials based on the ‘first expiry, first out’ (FEFO) principle.

The pick-list is sorted to facilitate material collation.

Once the pick-list is assembled it is transferred to manufacturing. All material transfers are recorded into the WMS via the mobile computer through barcodes.

Unused material is returned to the warehouse. It is stored in the original location since the system would reserve it.

By scanning the material barcode the mobile computer can display the material status, the expiry date and the amount of material left in the container.

Packed finished goods on pallets are transferred to this warehouse via an automated conveyor.

After confirming the physical quantity with the ERP quantity, a pallet label is generated and the goods are transferred to a storage location in the main warehouse.

6 CONCLUSION The warehouse has been used for 22 months and if the requirements set out in the initial brief are reviewed one reaches the following conclusions.

The building has been successfully audited by the Malta Medicines Authority twice, other foreign national authorities and numerous clients thus confirming its compliance to the European Union’s guidelines on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) [1] and Good Distribution Practice (GDP) [2].

Most of the warehousing activities have been relocated to this new building and the warehouse capacity can be expanded by a further 3432 pallet locations. The use of this warehouse has highlighted that once the racking system is expanded to 7560 pallet location, the site may have some constraints in the staging areas, which may have to be addressed by changes in procedure.

The actual operation has confirmed that the mobile racking system installed did not have an adverse effect on the throughput.

The temperature mapping exercises have clearly demonstrated that the Envelope Concept adopted delivers an even temperature and humidity distribution throughout the storage areas. This was aided by the selected material used for the building envelope.

7 ACKNOWLEDMENTS Bezzina & Cole, Architects & Engineers Lagnatækni, HVAC Consulting Engineers Inġ Maurizio Cappello Inġ Marouska Bartolo Inġ Michael Vella Inġ Henry Curmi Dimech Mr Noel Mamo Mr John Cassar Mr John Azzopardi

8 REFERENCES [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Health and Consumers Directorate-General, “Volume 4, EU Guidelines for Good Manufacturing Practice for Medicinal Products for Human and Veterinary Use,” in EudraLex, The Rules Governing Medicinal Products in the European Union, Brussel, European Commission, 2014.

European Commission, “Guidelines of 5 November 2013 on Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use,” Official Journal of the European Union, vol. C 343, p. 5, 2013.

Concrete Network, “ADVANTAGES & APPLICATIONS OF POSTTENSIONING,” [Online]. Available: http://www.concretenetwork.com/posttension/advantages.html. [Accessed 17 April 2016].

Concrete Network, “POST-TENSIONED CONCRETE,” [Online]. Available: http://www.concretenetwork.com/post-tension/. [Accessed 17 April 2016].

International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH), “Stability Testing of New Drug Substances and Products,” ICH HARMONISED TRIPARTITE GUIDELINE, vol. Q1A(R2), no. Current Step 4 version dated 6 February 2003, p. 15, 2003.

Inġ. Joseph

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Inġ. Joseph M. Farrugia has graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1987. He has over 27 years of experience in engineering management roles in the pharmaceutical industry.

During these years Joseph has specialised in capital projects management from concept stage to qualification and handing over, site master planning and site development strategies, CAPEX budgets preparation and reviews. He also has extensive knowledge in maintenance, calibration and qualification management systems. One of the most recent projects he was responsible for is a state of the art 7,560 pallet warehouse. Inġ Farrugia is currently Executive Director, Engineering – Europe with Actavis plc.

Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block Charles Yousif, Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Malta, charles.yousif@um.edu.mt

ABSTRACT This paper is more concerned with existing buildings that form the major part of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s building stock. It assesses the status-quo of energy efficiency in existing Maltese dwellings and particularly focuses on apartment blocks, given that they form over 60% of the building stock in Malta. A plethora of technically-feasible energy efficiency measures for the building envelope and installed systems has been studied for different floors within the apartment block, based on simulation. This would help set priorities and consolidate resources to push for the most feasible energy efficiency measures first.

Keywords: buildings, energy efficiency, dwellings, Malta

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1 OVERVIEW 1.1 Scoping This paper focuses on the study of achieving higher energy efficiency (EE) in existing buildings and more specifically in apartments, given that they form the major part of dwellings in Malta.

The main message of this paper is that EE measures should complement renewable energy applications, so that both the reasons behind, as well as the consequences of energy wastage are dealt with. According to the EU Energy Performance in Buildings Directive Recast 2010/31/EU [1], the five sectors of energy demand considered are energy for space heating and cooling, water heating, lighting and ventilation, as well as any renewable energy generated on site.

1.2 Energy Efficiency in Malta One of the indicators used to gauge the EE of a nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy is the energy intensity. It is defined as the ratio of energy consumed to gross domestic product (GDP) and has the units of kg of oil equivalent per 1,000 Euro of GDP. Figure 1 shows the energy intensity, the energy consumption and the GDP for Malta over the past few years, as reported by Eurostat [2, 3, 4].

One notes several interesting phenomena for the different terms. Firstly, after a slight dip in 2009, the economy has been constantly growing. Secondly, energy consumption dropped in 2009, possibly due to the economic crisis and increased electricity tariffs, but it has since reverted back to its previous trend. The drop in energy consumption in 2013 and 2014 is most likely due to the commissioning of the new BWSC power station extension, being more efficient than older generators.

Thirdly, the change in energy intensity is very subtle and it has only dropped slightly after 2012, due to the new extension of the power station. This clearly shows that although one may say that EE in Malta is improving, given that the energy intensity is dropping, in reality it shows other worrying factors, as follows: 1. The energy intensity has dropped primarily because the economy has improved, given that the GDP is in the denominator of the energy intensity equation.

Figure 1:

Energy intensity, energy consumption and GDP for Malta [2, 3, 4].

Figure 2:

Electrical generation and renewable energy production [5, 6, 7].

2. Energy efficiency has dropped only because of a single major project for improving electricity generation, i.e. on the supply side. There seems to be no significant improvement in efficiency on the demand or end-use side, as otherwise its effect would have been sensed over the years. This means that the involvement of the citizen in EE is still not sufficiently proactive.

3. The actual energy intensity figures vary up and down and hence it is still premature to assume that future figures will surely drop.

Hence, it is important to engage the home end-user to ensure that less energy is consumed. One of the important commodities in an island scenario is electricity consumption, given the lack of energy mix. The major part of energy consumed in households is in fact electrical energy.

Figure 2 shows the total electricity generation in Malta over the past years and the renewable energy generated (but also consumed) in the country. Consequently, although the fossil-fueled electricity generation may have dropped slightly but the combined consumption of electricity, including renewables, has remained virtually the same.

1.3 Energy and Buildings Table 1 shows a comparative analysis of the building stock in Malta, according to the National Census of 2005 and 2011 [8, 9].

It is clear that the percentage share of apartments has risen from 50.8% in 2005 to 61.5% in 2011.

According to the United Nations energy balances 2013 data, buildings (households, commercial and public) in Malta consumed around 44% of the total final energy consumption as shown in Figure 3, with households alone consuming half of that amount [10].

It is therefore pertinent to focus on EE in buildings, if one is to achieve a long-lasting reduction in energy consumption nationwide. Another important reason that one can consider for focusing more on residential buildings is because the energy consumption within this sector does not contribute positively to the GDP. In other words, energy consumed in

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Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block Continued

Table 1:

Building stock in Malta for the National Censuses of 2005 and 2011 [8, 9].

dwellings does not produce a service or a product that could be sold to generate wealth.

Needless to say, certain EE measures that may be well suited for certain types of dwellings, such as terraced houses may not be applicable to apartments. A case in point is the installation of solar systems on roofs, whereby many apartments have no access to the roof. One may argue that it may be considered as a form of social injustice when incentives focus primarily on solar installations, because automatically a large portion of citizens are excluded from engaging in EE actions.

On the other hand, one may also argue that there are certain incentives given to energy efficient measures such as doubleglazing and roof insulation. Here, the question arises whether these are really the best measures that would yield the highest energy savings for dwellings. This paper gives a clear insight to such questions and goes further to show that certain EE measures that may be optimum for a ground floor apartment may not have the same level of benefit for other apartments within the block, depending on their storey level.

Figure 3:

Percentage share of final energy consumption by sector in Malta, 2013 [10].

Figure 4:

A front view of the four apartments.

2 METHOD A block of eleven apartments have been studied, which consisted of elevated ground, first, second floors and two penthouses, as shown in Figure 4. The first stage of the research work consisted of comparing the results of using the national EPRDM energy performance certification software and the renowned DesignBuilder-EnergyPlus software.

In the second stage, focus was shifted to the right hand side of the block and only four apartments were further studied.

These apartments had some unique features, which made their energy performance rating different from each other.

The ground floor apartment had 55% of its floor exposed to semi-basement garages. The first floor apartment was the least exposed, having buildings on all sides, except the front and the back. The second floor apartment had 15% exposed front room ceiling, which is under the penthouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terrace, as well as a practically fully exposed west wall spanning the whole apartment length of 30 metres (100 ft). The penthouse has more exposed walls and larger windows.

The study aimed at comparing their building energy rating (BER), when different EE measures are applied, using the national methodology EPRDM. A hierarchy of EE measures that best fit each floor was deduced.

3 SOFTWARE SIMULATION The preliminary stage for this research work entailed the preparation of an hourly EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) file for Malta, which was missing [11].

Site visits were carried out to measure all dimensions within the building block, to be able to draw a 3-D model in DesignBuilder. During the visits, information was collected on all building material used, glazing, shading, ventilation openings, floor and ceiling as well as roof construction, lighting, water heating, air-conditioning or other forms of space conditioning systems, besides others. Table 2 shows the summary envelope details for this building.

The model was constructed and all detailed information on occupancy, set temperatures, hot water consumption rate,

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Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block Continued

Figure 5:

EPRDM and DesignBuilder delivered energy for all eleven apartments according to their storey level.

Table 2:

Comparison of as-built U-values to Technical Guidance F.

heating and cooling schedules, internal heat gains from electrical appliances, besides others, were inputted to be similar to those used in EPRDM. This helps to compare the results on a level playing field.

It is noted that for this building, and indeed for most of other constructions in Malta, the building envelope does not fully satisfy the minimum requirements (Table 2), as set by the Technical Guidance F 2006, which was a legally-binding document until 2015 [12]. It is worth noticing that the new Guidance F of 2016 has kept the same building envelope’s minimum requirements as that of 2006.

4 RESULTS OF SIMULATIONS 4.1 Whole Floor Simulations Results showed that the EPRDM software over-shoots the heating and underestimates the cooling demands, when compared to DesignBuilder, as shown in Figure 5. On the other hand, water heating and lighting seem to be in agreement. This is mainly because the EPRDM uses monthly averages of input data parameters, while DesignBuilder is a dynamic software that analyses the building on an hourly basis.

A number of interesting observations were also made, as follows: 1. Both software produce systematic results. For example, as one goes higher, the heating load drops and the cooling load increases, given that more solar gains are experienced.

2. Similar to EPRDM, DesignBuilder still calculates a much

Figure 6:

The BER for the apartments in the different floors (kWh/m².year).

lower cooling than heating demand. It is to be noted that for all apartments, the heating system was assumed to be mainly electrical resistance, while the cooling system was a basic air-conditioner of an average EER of 2.8. For a dwelling that uses air-conditioning both for heating and cooling, the demand for air-conditioning for summer and winter would be more balanced.

3. Lighting demand in the second floor was higher because these apartments did not have energy efficient lights, while the penthouses had a mixture of lights.

Figure 6 shows the BER for the apartments in the different floors, when using the DesignBuilder software (yellow) and the EPRDM tool (red). These results show that EPRDM seems to give a more conservative picture of the BER of an apartment.

4.2 Specific Apartment Simulations Given that the EPRDM is the only nationally recognized software, it was thought best to continue the analysis based on it, to come up with results pertaining to energy improvements in the particular apartments for the right hand side of the building block.

A number of technically-feasible EE measures were chosen for the specific apartments, as follows: 1. Common measures for all floors: a. Minimum requirements for external walls at U-value 1.57 W/m²; b. External wall insulation (Two cases were analysed, namely, U-value of 1 and 0.5 W/m²K);

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Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block Continued

c. Double glazing with Uvalue of 4 W/m²K; d. Heat pump space heating and cooling.

2. Special measures for specific apartments: a. Insulation of floor for the ground floor; b. Solar heating and photovoltaics for the penthouse; c. Heat pump water heaters for the ground, first and second floors; d. Energy efficient lighting for Apartment 2 and Penthouse.

Table 3 shows the expected improvement in the BER for each apartment, when specific EE measures are employed.

Based on these results, it is quite clear that: 1. Double-glazing is the least effective energy efficient measure. This is because the percentage of area occupied by glazing is usually less than 10%. Table 4 shows the actual percentages of glazing and external walls for the four apartments under study.

2. External wall insulation up to 0.5 W/m²K makes a positive contribution. One notes from Table 4 that external walls form the major part of the building’s envelope for apartments. The penthouse’s walls may require slightly less insulation to keep the balance between allowing internal heat and solar gains to escape and resisting the flow of energy from outside to inside.

3. Heat pump water heating gives superior improvements, when compared to the traditional electrical boiler with hot water storage.

4. The use of high efficiency air-conditioners for heating and cooling is also quite attractive.

5. Energy efficient lighting has the same energy savings as double-glazing, but it would cost much less to implement.

6. Solar heating gives good results but it is quite comparable to heat pump water heaters. Hence, it makes sense to promote heat pumps for water heating for those dwellings that have no access to the roof.

7. Photovoltaic solar energy positively contributes towards achieving lower energy rating. The risk is that if only photovoltaics are implemented, then it would effectively mean trying to solve the consequences rather than solving the root of the energy problem itself. This is not sound policy, if EE is to be promoted.

The effect of implementing all measures to these existing apartments shows that it is possible for apartments to reach near zero-energy rating, as shown in Figure 7.

Table 3:

Percentage improvement in the EPRDM Energy Rating of different apartments, when specific EE measures are implemented.

Table 4:

Percentage of glazed to total area and external wall area to total external/ unconditioned wall areas for each apartment.

Figure 7:

Effect on the BER (kWh/m².year), when introducing all EE measures for different apartments.

25

Assessing Energy Efficiency of a Typical Residential Apartment Block Continued

5 CONCLUSION Energy efficiency measures have been identified for apartments at different floor levels. While some measures may be common to all of them, some others are quite specific.

The best measures for the ground floor apartment are the insulation of walls and exposed floor to garages. High efficiency air-conditioning and heat pump water heaters are the best systems to implement. The first and second floors have fewer options to implement. Nevertheless, insulation of walls, hot water heat pumps and air-conditioning still provide exceptional benefits. Finally, the penthouse has the best potential of achieving a zero net-energy dwelling. Changing lights and double glazing have the least EE benefits.

The results of this paper showed that retrofitting doubleglazing in existing dwellings is not a priority. On the other hand, wall insulation and heat pump hot water systems would yield higher benefits, although they may need financial support, given their high capital costs. Nevertheless, the provision of appropriate grants would ensure social equity among the different types of dwellings.

6 REFERENCES

[1] EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive Recast

2010/31/EU, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.

do?uri=OJ:L:2010:153:0013:0035:EN:PDF, accessed on 12th April 2016.

[2] Eurostat, Energy Intensity of the Economy, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ tgm/table.do?tab=table&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tsdec360,

accessed on 12th April 2016.

[3] Eurostat, Final Energy Consumption, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/ table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tsdpc320&plugin=1,

accessed on 12th April 2016.

[4] Eurostat, GDP per Capita, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products datasets/-/nama_aux_gph, accessed on 12th April 2016.

[5] National Statistics Office, Electricity Generation, https://nso.gov.mt/en/ News_Releases/View_by_Unit/Unit_B3/Environment_Energy_Transport_ and_Agriculture_Statistics/Pages/Electricity-Generation.aspx.

[6] Enemalta p.l.c., Electricity Generation Data, private communication.

[7] Malta Resources Authority (Regulator for Energy and Water), Photovoltaic

Electrical Generation, http://mra.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/216/ Solar-RES-growth-in-residential-sector-Feb2015.pdf.

[8] National Statistics Office National Census 2005, https://nso.gov.mt/en/ publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/01_Methodology_and_

Research/Census2005_vol1.pdf, accessed on 13th March 2016.

[9] National Statistics Office, National Census 2011, https://nso.gov.mt/en/ publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/01_Methodology_and_

Research/Census2011_FinalReport.pdf, accessed on 13th March 2016.

[10] United Nations Publication, 2013 Energy Balances, http://unstats.un.org/

unsd/energy/balance/2013/bmq.pdf, accessed on 12th February 2016.

[11] Assessing Energy Efficiency in Maltese Dwellings, Ph.D. Thesis, Charles

Yousif, University of Valladolid, Spain, April 2015.

[12] Building Regulation Office, Technical Guidance F (2006), Minimum

Requirements on the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulation 2006,

https://secure2.gov.mt/epc/file.aspx?f=24, accessed on 2nd February 2016.

Dr Charles

Yousif

Eur Ing.

Dr Charles Yousif Eur Ing. is a lecturer working at the Institute for Sustainable Energy of the University of Malta. In 1989 he graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering. In 1993, as part of his studies for an M.Phil Degree, he re-initiated solar radiation monitoring in Malta.

Simultaneously, he had started the first long-term performance testing of a stand-alone photovoltaic system followed by a grid-connected PV system in Malta. Results were used to design and install the first three privately owned solar PV systems in Malta in 2002 and 2003, both in residential and industrial buildings. His Ph. D. study was on the achievement of energy efficiency in existing Maltese dwellings.

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presentation summarizes his findings. He is a co-author of 3 books and has published over 80 local and international scientific papers and articles that mainly concentrated on PV systems, solar water heating, hybrid-systems, solar and UV radiation, energy performance of Buildings and renewable energy education.

27

Intelligent Retrofitting of a Primary School Building in Malta Damien Gatt, Charles Yousif Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Malta, damien.gatt@gov.mt, charles.yousif@um.edu.mt, Simon Scicluna, Alexandra Camilleri, Robert Portelli, John Chircop, Roberta Vella, Aaron Cutajar, Maurizio Schembri, Nadine Borg, James Mifsud Office of the Prime Minister â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Energy and Projects, Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit, Luqa, Malta

ABSTRACT The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) (2012/27/EU) requires that 3% of the

floor area occupied by public buildings be renovated each year to meet the Minimum Energy Performance Requirements (MEPRS) based on the Cost Optimal Methodology (COMet) as defined by the Energy Performance in Building Directive (EPBD) recast (2010/31/EU), while ensuring comfort requirements are met. In this study, an intelligent, energy efficient, and costeffective retrofitting approach was adopted to retrofit a primary school building in Malta to meet the MEPRS. The pilot study focused on the Siggiewi primary school building. This study also developed an excel methodology tool that can be used for any school. In this paper, this tool was applied to the specific Siggiewi primary school building layout and construction, in order to determine the retrofitting measures required for the school that would achieve at least the MEPRS. The innovative methodology provides a customised approach to determine the MEPRS rather than the commonly adopted one reference building fits all approach. The same methodology also aims to achieve comfort using the EN 15251 adaptive thermal comfort approach for naturally ventilated buildings rather than assuming that buildings require active heating and cooling sources to meet comfort. Comfort analysis using DesignBuilderEnergyPlus showed that for summer, the school can attain adaptive comfort if its glazing is externally shaded and night purging is introduced. In contrast, for the winter period mechanical ventilation plus an active heat source is required. External shading and mechanical ventilation were therefore introduced in the school and the portable radiative heaters were replaced with a more energy efficient active heating source. In addition, in order for the building to achieve the MEPRS (which is circa 0 kWh/m2/annum as per study carried out by Damien Gatt et. al.

[3]), photovoltaic solar systems were installed, electrical storage water heaters were replaced with instant water heaters and energy efficient light sources were introduced. Such retrofitting measures were shown to make economic sense from a Net Present Value point of view. Other measures such as insulation and light dimming were shown to make less economic sense but were applied in sample classrooms to compare their actual performance with DesignBuilderEnergyPlus simulated results. For this purpose, a building management system (BMS) was installed at school to fully monitor and optimise the comfort and energy performance of the school. Further research will analyse the data from the BMS to compare the actual school performance with the DesignBuilder-EnergyPlus software simulated results and further optimise the retrofitting requirements for schools in Malta.

28

1. INTRODUCTION The EPBD recast [2] highlights that buildings account for 40% of the total energy consumption (EC) in the EU. The relevant EU aqcuis aims at realising the full potential of energy savings of buildings by requiring Member States to define the Minimum Energy Performance Requirements (MEPRS) of new buildings and buildings undergoing "major renovation" with a view to achieving cost optimal levels defined as "the Energy Performance (EP) level which leads to the lowest cost during the estimated economic lifecycle" [1], while ensuring comfort levels are met.

Furthermore, the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) [1] requires that 3% of the total floor area owned and occupied by public buildings be renovated each year to meet at least the MEPRS of the EPBD recast, which public buildings should serve an exemplary role.

This exemplary role can be understood precisely for public primary school buildings (PPSBs), for their ability to spread a new style of sustainable living [4]. However, as of 2016, the official MEPRs for educational buildings in Malta based on COMet as required by the EPBD have not yet been set and consequently there are no official guidelines of how such renovation shall be carried out. Renovation for PPSBs shall provide a good balance between energy performance and high levels of comfort, as various studies have shown that comfort has a high degree of influence on student’s academic achievements(5)(6).

One important physical factor of the Siggiewi primary school analysed in this study is that it has classrooms in all orientations. The excel methodology tool described in [3] was used on the specific Siggiewi primary school building layout and construction in order to determine the retrofitting measures required for the school to achieve at least the MEPRS. The innovative methodology explained in [3], provides a customised approach to determine the MEPRS for a school building. This is in contrast to the commonly adopted one reference building fits all methodology to determine the MEPRS. Furthermore, the same excel tool clearly pinpoints the specific required retrofitting measures to obtain the cost optimal energy performance and aims to adopt passive measures to achieve comfort using the EN 15251 adaptive thermal comfort approach for naturally ventilated buildings rather than assuming – as is the normal applied procedure – that buildings require active heating and cooling sources to meet comfort.

2. COMFORT ANALYSIS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS 2.1. Comfort analysis applied to the St. Ignatius College Primary School, Siggiewi As a starting point, the comfort of the existing Siggiewi school building was analysed. Comfort was analysed to identify the most adequate passive retrofitting options for the school. Comfort was analysed using two methodologies: questionnaires and dynamic building software simulation tools (DesignBuilder). The results from the two methods were then compared as a means of validating the results from the software to identify the suitability of the EN 15251(7) adaptive

Figure 1:

Plan view of of the Siggiewi Primary school (left) and DesignBuilder model of the school (right)

Figure 2:

Top Floor and Lower Ground Floor hourly mean OTs against hourly adaptive comfort temperature plot for for a typical winter week

comfort model used for this study.The questionnaires were handed out to all teachers at the school. Thermal Comfort (TC) questions were designed using subjective evaluation/ judgement scales as recommended by EN 15251 [7].

The Siggiewi primary school was modeled using DesignBuilder software that uses the EnergyPlus engine for thermal analysis, having the school’s existing envelope construction1 (Refer to Figure 1) and the Maltese climate weather 1 1RB existing construction: external wall U-Value: 1.5 Wm-2k-1, Roof U-value: 0.6 Wm-2k-1, external windows: Aluminium frame single glazed.

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file2.

To assess the thermal comfort of the building, simulations for winter and summer typical weeks were carried out for representative classrooms and adjacent corridors of different floors and orientations. The analysis was carried out by plots of hourly mean operative temperature3 (OT) (generated by EnergyPlus) for the occupied and simulated periods in each of the analysed classrooms against the hourly adaptive comfort temperature (ÂąEN 15251(7) Category II adaptive temperature limits) also generated by EnergyPlus.

During winter, for all the representative classrooms, adaptive comfort was not met as many operative temperature points lay outside the lower Operative Temperature limit (Refer to Figure 2, which shows the results for the Top Floor (TF) and the Lower Ground Floor (LGF) rooms).

The worst case comfort conditions can be depicted in the LGF rooms, as the hourly OT points for the entire occupied period is outside the adaptive comfort zone due to lowest solar gains at the LGF classrooms. The lack of comfort during the winter period (with no active heating source) can be understood from the fact that 90% of the respondents use electric resistance heaters during the winter period, which compares well with the simulation results. From the heat balance plots generated by DesignBuilder it was in fact shown that the major sources of heat losses during the winter period are uncontrolled heat losses to the colder outside air when the windows were kept open.

It was therefore determined that during winter, the classroom windows need to remain closed and fresh air would be introduced by means of a mechanical ventilation (MV) system that introduces warmer air from the glazed corridor zones, which was shown to be generally warmer than classroom air due to a higher glazing ratio (refer to Figure 3). An active heat source is also required during winter to ensure comfort.

For summer, comfort was only met for the Lower Ground Floor (LGF) classrooms due to the lower solar gains from windows and heat losses to floors. Both the Top Floor (TF) and Middle floor (MF) representative rooms failed to meet adaptive thermal comfort (Refer to Figure 4, which shows the results for the TF rooms). The questionnaire results also showed that the majority of the respondents disapproved of the June indoor environment, especially in the TF (caused by excessive solar gains), which compares well with the simulation results. When the building was night purged and external shading was applied to both the external glazing and classrooms, with the windows kept open, adaptive comfort was generally met for both the MF and TF classrooms as shown in Figure 4. This means that comfort can be achieved passively during summer.

2 EPW data file for Malta was based on Meteonorm software. Meteonorm software is meteorological software that provides meteorological data for solar applications, system design and other applications for any location in the world. Meteonorm software extrapolates data from nearby stations to make data for the required site. The data for Malta in Meteonorm is therefore based on calculation methodologies and interpolation between stations.

3 The operative temperature (OT) combines the air temperature and the mean radiant temperature into a single value to express their joint effect (11). It is in fact the weighted average of the indoor air temperature and mean radiant temperature. OT is the temperature that is used to assess comfort in the EN 15251(7) standard as it gives a more realistic temperature of what people feel, given that takes into consideration the effects of heat convection as well as heat radiation.

Figure 3:

Left Plot showing typical OT difference between classrooms and adjacent corridors, Right figure showing the proposed mechanical ventilation set-up

This can be assisted by introducing ceiling fans to assist in evaporative cooling during the few hours when comfort is not met.

3. RETROFITTING MEASURES APPLIED TO THE SCHOOL The required retrofitting measures were then identified from the excel tool described in [3] for the specific school building after the school existing equipment, construction and financial data were inputted in the tool. As per above comfort requirements, and to satisfy the requirements of the retrofitting measures for the school to reach MEPRS (which is circa 0 kWh/m2/annum as per study carried out by Damien Gatt et. al. [3]), external shading and mechanical ventilation were introduced in the school and the portable radiative heaters were replaced with Infra red panel heaters.

Figure 5 identifies the school as is i.e. before the retrofitting measures were carried out. In order to satisfy the external shading requirements on the south facing courtyard wall, approximately 28 kWp of wall mounted photovoltaic solar modules were installed (refer to Figure 6), which allow direct sunlight radiation to penetrate the glazing during the winter but blocks the direct summer radiation. In addition, the Photovoltaic system (PV) installed utilises dc power optimisers, so as to reduce the effect of shading from adjacent

31

Intelligent Retrofitting of a Primary School Building in Malta Continued

open the classroom windows to meet the required ACH but at the same time would allow colder air from outside to enter the classrooms). Also, the same set up can also be used to satisfy the night purging requirements during the summer period ,when the differential temperature sensors identify that the outside temperature is lower than the inside temperatures.

For winter comfort to be achieved in a cost optimal way, the portable electrical heaters in the classrooms were replaced with 97% radiative (soffit mounted) infra red panel heaters, which due to their radiative properties were simulated using CFD (refer to Figure 9) to be able to satisfy the comfort requirements of the whole classroom using only 2 kW in the winter design conditions in contrast to the original portable (30%) radiative heaters which required a load of 5.45 kW to satisfy these requirements. The Infra-red panel heaters are black bulb sensor and BMS controlled to optimise the heat demand according to the external weather conditions (adaptive control) and occupancy. The use of black bulb sensors are required for control as the Infra-red panel heaters increase the radiative temperature in the room which won't be measured using a normal dry bulb temperature sensor.

Figure 4:

Top Floor hourly mean operative temperatures against hourly adaptive comfort temperature plot for for a typical winter week.

Top figure shows simulation results with the building as is and the bottom figure shows results with external shading applied.

walls and from panels in above rows. The PVs were in fact simulated with PVSyst software to generate 1,100 kWh/ KWp which is a fair compromise given that typical roof mounted photovoltaic panels generate circa 1,600 kWh/ KWp in Malta [8]. On the remaining part of the facade, 100 m2 of unglazed solar thermal absorbers were utilised so as to provide shading to the remaining windows, while at the same time reducing the energy consumption required to heat the pool found at the school during winter (refer to Figure 6). To further reduce the poolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy consumption, an automated pool cover was introduced to reduce evaporative heat losses during the night, which may save up to 50 % of the total energy consumption required by the pool [9]. Also, the east and west facades were externally shaded using BMS controlled vertical louvers to be able to capture the sun at low angles in these facades, while the intelligent control allows the direct sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s radiation to penetrate the glazing during winter (refer to Figure 7).

The mechanical ventilation concept described in Figure 3 was also introduced in the classrooms, as shown in Figure 8.

The required air changes per hour (ACH) are achieved and controlled using demand BMS controlled ventilation (CO2 sensors). The advantage of this set-up is that it satisfies the required ACH and reduces heat losses (due to the introduction of the warmer corridor air and elimination for the need to

32

In addition, in order for the building to achieve the MEPRS, the building requires to be installed with PVs covering 20 % of the roof area [3]. However, given that from [3] it was found that installing additional photovoltaic's maximizes the net present value and reduces the energy performance to below 0 kWh/m2/year for schools, photovoltaic's were installed to occupy the total roof area (refer to Figure 6).

Other measures were also implemented to achieve MEPRS, including the replacement of electrical storage water heaters with instant (without storage) water heaters. Instant water heaters allow water to be heated only when requested and to a much lower temperature given that there are no legionella bacteria issues for tankless heaters. Energy efficient light sources were also introduced and combined with occupancy sensors inside. All the above retrofitting measures for MEPRS were shown in [3] to make economic sense from a net present value point of view over a 30-year period.

Other measures such as wall insulation and light dimming (DALI) using photocells were shown to make less economic

Figure 5:

The Siggiewi primary school prior to the interventions

Figure 6:

Figure 10:

Figure 7:

Figure 11:

Figure 8:

Figure 12:

Unglazed pool solar thermal system and PV overhangs on the south courtyard facade (left image) and roof mounted Photovoltaics (right image)

BMS controlled movable external vertical louvers on the East and south facing external and courtyard facades

BMS and Demand controlled ventilation using CO2 sensors installed in the classrooms

Figure 9:

BMS and black bulb sensor controlled Infra Red panel heaters installed in the classrooms (middle image) - CFD analysis of a North facing classroom when simulated with mechanical ventilation and infra-red panel heaters (2 kW) during winter design conditions showing comfort is met (left and right images)

Installation of instant water heaters and water saving devices (automatic faucets and low flush toilets)

New energy saving light tubes in classrooms with BMS controlled smart Lighting (using photocells and occupancy sensors

Internal insulation installed in sample classrooms

Figure 13:

BMS user interface to monitor and optimize the most important comfort and energy consumption parameters

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Intelligent Retrofitting of a Primary School Building in Malta Continued

sense as reflected by NPV results [3] but were applied in sample classrooms (refer to Figures 11 and 12), to compare their actual performance with EnergyPlus simulated results. For this pilot project, a building management system (BMS) (refer to Figure 13) was installed at the school to fully monitor and optimise the comfort and energy performance of the school.

For this school construction, wall insulation did not result to make economic sense given that the school already meets the minimum energy requirements Technical Guide F [10] for the building envelope.

9.

10.

11.

Malta: potential versus real contribution to the 2020 RE target. 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition.

Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Sonnenenergie Dgs. Planning and installing solar thermal systems: A guide for installers, architects and engineers. 3rd ed. London: Taylor & Francis; 2013.

Malta Services Division Building Regulations Office. Technical Guidance Document F, Conservation of Fuel, Energy and Natural Resources (Minimum requirements on the energy performance of buildings regulations, 2006) [Internet]. Malta; 2006. Available from: http://www. bicc.gov.mt/bicc/files_folder/Cons Fuel Energy Doc F new.pdf Cibse. CIBSE Guide A: Environmental Design. Building. 2006. 323 p.

4. CONCLUSION This study has applied the innovative and energy efficient cost optimal methodology approach based on the customized methodology described in [3] to the actual retrofitting of a primary school building in Malta. The implementation of such measures is expected to reduce the school energy consumption to below 0 kWh/m2/year given the large component of energy generated from RES while improving thermal and visual comfort and at the same time achieving a positive NPV over a 30 year period (as calculated from the excel tool described in [3]) .

The project is continually being monitored and parameters are being optimized. Future studies will be presented based on BMS readouts and occupant’s feedback so that future school retrofitting projects will be continually improved.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The retrofitting of the St. Ignatius college primary school Siggiewi costed over Euro 1 million in investment, which was co-financed under the ERDF 2007-2013. The Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation (SEWCU) within the Office of the Prime Minister – Energy was responsible for implementing the project. The authors would like to thank everyone involved in making this project a reality.

6. References

1. European Parliament. Directive 2012/27/EU. Off J Eur Union.

2012;L315/1:1–56.

2. Europian Parliament. Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and

of the council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings

(recast). 2010.

3. Damien Gatt and Charles Yousif. Renovating Primary school buildings in

Malta to achieve cost-optimal energy performance and comfort levels. In:

Al. RP borg et, editor. SBE 16 Malta International Conference. Malta: SBE

Malta Sustainable Built Environment; 2016. p. 453–60.

4. De Santoli L, Fraticelli F, Fornari F, Calice C. Energy performance

assessment and a retrofit strategies in public school buildings in Rome.

Energy Build [Internet]. Elsevier B.V.; 2014 Jan [cited 2014 Jul

26];68:196–202. Available from: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/ S0378778813005252 5. De Giuli V, Da Pos O, De Carli M. Indoor environmental quality and pupil

perception in Italian primary schools. Build Environ [Internet]. Elsevier Ltd;

2012 Oct [cited 2014 Jul 17];56:335–45. Available from: http://linkinghub. elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0360132312001163 6. Haverinen-Shaughnessy U, Moschandreas DJ, Shaughnessy RJ. Association

between substandard classroom ventilation rates and students’ academic

achievement. Indoor Air [Internet]. 2011 Apr [cited 2014 Aug

13];21(2):121–31. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/21029182 7. EN 15251 European Standard. Indoor environmental input parameters for

design and assessment of energy performance of buildings—addressing

indoor air quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics. 2007.

8. L. Mule’ Stagno, C.Yousif ERVP. Solar Photovoltaic systems performance in

34

Inġ. Damien

Gatt

Ing. Damien Gatt is employed with the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit (SEWCU). He is a warranted mechanical engineer.

In 2015 he graduated with an MSc in Sustainable Energy from the University of Malta. His main areas of interest are alternative energy technologies and energy efficient buildings. He is a qualified ISO 50002 Energy Auditor and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Assessor.

Dr Charles

Yousif

Eur Ing.

Dr Charles Yousif Eur Inġ. is a Lecturer at the University of Malta.

The topics that he teaches includes solar energy, energy performance of buildings, geothermal energy, solar and UV radiation as well as sustainable energy. Over the past 25 years of his academic career, Dr Yousif has published over 80 scientific papers and book chapters. He is a certified assessor for energy performance of dwellings and non-dwellings.

Inġ. Simon

Scicluna

Inġ Simon Scicluna graduated in Engineering from the University of Malta in 1997 and subsequently obtained a Masters in Sustainable Energy in 2014 from the same university. He started his career in the private sector working in the manufacturing industry where he was involved in the project management, maintenance and cost improvement programmes. He has been a board member and actively contributed in several committees such as the University Faculty Board of Engineering, the University Engineering Students Association, the Chamber of Engineers and the Institute for Sustainable Energy. In 2010 Simon joined the Energy Directorate at the Malta Resources Authority where he was assigned duties related to Energy Policy. Simon presently is the Chief Technical Officer (Energy) of the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister – Energy & projects that has the remit to design, develop, update, monitor and co-ordinate the implementation of measures and instruments related to Energy Policy for Malta.

Mr Robert

Portelli

Robert Portelli is a policy officer at the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU since October 2015. As part of his role, Mr. Portelli represents Malta in Energy Council Working Party as well as in other EU fora with a particular focus on Energy. Prior to moving to Brussels, Mr. Portelli was for 2 years an Energy Analyst at the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit in Malta. He recommended engineering modifications by utilizing design software to increase energy performance whilst reaching thermal comfort. In his professional experience, Mr. Portelli has also worked as an Energy Auditor for the Institute of Sustainable Energy. He holds an MSc(Eng.) in Energy Generation and a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Ms Roberta

Vella

I, Roberta Vella, am 22 years old and have graduated from the University of Malta with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2015. To further my studies, I enrolled in the Master (by Research) in Sustainable Energy as this area is of personal interest. My research area is based on Solar Cooling which equipment is installed at a maltese facility used to research wine.

Mr Aaron

Cutajar

Aaron Cutajar is employed with the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit (SEWCU). He is a graduated mechanical engineer.

In 2015 he graduated as a plant mechanical engineer from MCAST. His main areas of interest are alternative energy technologies and energy efficient buildings. He is a qualified ISO 50002 Energy Auditor.

Mr Maurizio

Schembri

Maurizio Schembri is employed with the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit (SEWCU). In 2014 he graduated with a BSc in Construction Engineering from the University of MCAST. He is also in the last year of his MSc in Environmental Design within the University of Malta.

His main areas of interest are environmental design and sustainable buildings. He is a qualified ISO 50002 Energy Auditor.

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ETI Product News

Power Needs Control Situated in Slovenia with over 14 subsidiaries in various European countries, ETI Elektroelement is one of the world's leading providers of products and services in the field of electrical equipent. ETI is also is also a leader in technical ceramic products, tools and equipment, and plastic and technical rubber products. ETI employs more than 1600 people, and its products are sold in more than 60 countries all over the world.

Indeed, ETI is among the five largest producers of fuses in the world and one of the the leading manufacturers of innovative switches and circuit breakers. ETI's products includes fuses, MCBs, MCCBs,RCCBs,RCBOs and ACBs ranging from 0,5A to 6300A. The company provides a vast range of solutions ideal for the control and protection of residential, commercial, industrial installations as well as for electric power distribution, photovoltaic systems and other renewable energy sources.

ETI also offers a diverse range of molded case circuit breakers and switch disconnectors ETIBREAK and ETISWITCH, air circuit breakers ETIPOWER, ETICON contactors, surge arresters ETITEC and distribution boards ETIBOX. We also offer integral solutions for reactive power compensation.

The ETI Green Protect is the latest concept introduced on the market by ETI which consists of quality solutions for integrated overvoltage and overcurrent protection of photovoltaic systems and other systems in the field of renewable energy.

ETI product range includes a wide range of high-voltage fuses type VV, low-voltage power circuit breakers and metal and free-standing distribution boxes ETIBOX. Moreover, ETI provides fuses for semiconductor protection ULTRA - QUICK ideal for the protection of power semiconductors in the DC and AC power applications. ETI also offers non-standard type fuses, specifically designed to ensure the protection of special applications with specific technical requirements, such as battery storage systems (BATTERY FUSE), railways (RAILWAY FUSE) and transient voltage surge suppression products (SRF fuses).

ETI also offers a wide product range of all types of fuses D, D0 and C and switches and circuit breakers from groups ASTI and EVE. For quality protection of installations and equipment in the industry ETI manufactures fuses and circuit breakers of various types. Emphasis is on a wide range of fuses and switching NH type combinations, such as strips and fuse disconnectors.

All ETI products are internationally certified. ETI's motto is quality assurance in all phases of the business manufacturing process. High quality products and services are the result of the demands and expectations of business partners and market analysis and potential. Determination of the expected quality begins at the planning stage of product design, material selection and expert analysis. It is continued at the development phase of the manufacturing process, when optimization of solutions is implemented.

Particular attention is paid to the appropriate delivery of products to our customers and their feedback.

ETI's vision and mission are being fulfilled by highly qualified, motivated and flexible staff whose experience successfully upgraded the first generation of innovation with fresh knowledge and new challenges. Our knowledge enables us to develop new, technologically advanced products and manufacturing processes for their successful implementation. All products in the product mix are of high level of quality and technological complexity. Moreover, ETI invests heavily in R&D and innovation and is one of the first Slovenian companys to obtain a quality ISO 9001 and environmental management ISO 14001 certificates.

With complete control of the business - production process, ETI offers its customers a comprehensive range of products and services. Optimization of business processes, together with complementary activities of subsidiaries provides flexibility and competitiveness. And tradition and innovation in the manufacture of tools and equipment provide excellent opportunities for the successful management of all phases of the manufacturing process.

ETI product range is available in Malta at AJ Electric, a leading supplier of high quality electrical lighting and supplies at the heart of Mriehel industrial estate.

IEEE Malta Section

IEEE Distinguished Lecturer on Fuzzy Logic Systems visits Malta From 5th May to 6th May 2016, the IEEE Malta Section in collaboration with the Chamber of Engineers and the University of Malta, hosted Prof. Hani Hagras, who is an IEEE distinguished lecturer on Artificial Intelligence.

Prof. Hagras is a professor of computational intelligence, director of the Computational Intelligence Centre, head of the Fuzzy Systems Research Group and head of the Intelligent Environments Research Group in the University of Essex, UK. He is a fellow IEEE and fellow of IET. He has authored more than 300 papers. His research has won numerous prestigious international awards, where most recently he was awarded by the IEEE CIS, the 2013 and 2004 Outstanding Paper Award in the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems. He has chaired numerous international conferences and he is associate editor of various international journals. During his stay in Malta, Prof.

Hagras gave two presentations, a keynote talk at the 24th Annual Engineering Conference held at the Radisson BLU, Golden Sands and a tutorial in the series of Time-Out sessions at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta, Msida.

Prof. Hani Hagras: IEEE distinguished lecturer on Artificial Intelligence

1. KEYNOTE PRESENTATION Prof. Hani Hagras gave a keynote presentation titled “Towards Online Adaptive Ambient Intelligent Buildings for Multiple Occupants” at the Annual COE Engineering Conference on Thursday 5th May 2016. The main theme of this year’s conference was Intelligent Buildings.

Globally, buildings account for 35% of all energy consumption.

One reason for this contribution is the generally poor energy performance of the existing building stock. While consecutive building code changes in order to improve the energy performance of newly-built homes, the effect of these changes on overall emissions is low, as the existing housing stock is so large and turnover takes a very long time.

It is now well understood that achieving energy reduction requires technology measures (e.g. better insulation, control, feedback), as well as behavioural changes in building occupants. There are also technological approaches to collect and analyse data with the aim to provide people with concrete options for building adaptations and behaviour change.

38

Prof. Hagras delivering his keynote presentation at the Annual COE Engineering Conference.

There have been several research efforts employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to provide intelligent automation, which could help to realise energy efficient spaces. However, the dynamic and ad-hoc nature of intelligent buildings means that the environment has to adapt to changing operating conditions and user changing preferences and behaviours and to enable more efficient and effective operation while avoiding any system failure.

Thus there is a need to provide autonomous intelligent adaptive techniques which should be able to create models which could be evolved and adapted online in a life learning mode. These models need to be transparent and easy to be read and interpreted via the normal user to enable him or her to better analyse the system and its performance. These intelligent systems should allow to control the environment on the user behalf and to his/her satisfaction to perform given tasks. The intelligent approaches used should have low computational overheads to effectively operate on the embedded hardware platforms present in the everyday

Prof. Hagras during his tutorial at the Faculty of ICT Auditorium at the University of Malta where he presented and discussed higher order fuzzy logic system to handle uncertainties in real world applications.

environments which have small memory and processor capabilities.

This talk presented novel adaptation strategies that will allow the environments to adapt to the uncertainties associated with the changes in the environments characteristics, context as well as changes in the user(s) preferences in intelligent buildings to allow to maximize the user(s) comfort and minimize the energy consumption. The talk presented new general type-2 fuzzy logic systems that could be used to model and handle the uncertainties associated with these environments where we will present real world experiments from the Essex iSpace real world intelligent apartment. The talk also presented current work on embedding intelligence to the everyday devices to convert them to intelligent energy efficient devices.

The reaction wheel inverted pendulum and Neurobot, two of the projects exhibited by local reseachers, during Prof. Hagrasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; visit to one of the labs of the Department of Systems and Control.

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business and management consultancy firm

Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.

- Andy Warhol

1 1 3 Pao l a Ro ad Ta r x i e n T X N 1 8 07 M al t a

Te l e ph o n e : + 3 6 5 216 6 1 27 3

IEEE Distinguished Lecturer on Fuzzy Logic Systems visits Malta Continued

2. TIME-OUT TUTORIAL SERIES On the following day, Prof. Hani Hagras gave a tutorial on “General Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Systems: Towards Higher Order Fuzzy Logic Systems to Handle the Uncertainties in Real World Applications” at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta.

The tutorial was attended by a number of students and academic members of staff.

3. LABORATORY TOURS Prior to his tutorial at the Faculty of ICT, Prof. Hagras had the opportunity to visit the Control Systems Lab and the Biomedical Engineering Lab at the Faculty of Engineering.

In particular, he met a number of undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers working in the fields of control and biomedical engineering.

Most real world applications face high levels of uncertainties that can affect the operations of such applications. Hence, there is a need to develop different approaches that can handle the available uncertainties and reduce their effects on the given application. To date, Type-1 Fuzzy Logic Systems (FLSs) have been applied with great success to many different real world applications. The traditional type-1 FLS which uses crisp type-1 fuzzy sets cannot handle high levels of uncertainties appropriately. Nevertheless it has been shown that higher order FLSs such as general type-2 FLSs can handle such uncertainties better and thus produce a better performance. However, the immense computational complexities associated with general type-2 FLSs have until recently prevented their application to real world control problems.

The IEEE Malta Section would like to acknowledge the support of Prof. Ing. Simon Fabri and Prof. Ing. Kenneth Camilleri, who coordinated and organised this visit. The IEEE Malta Section would like also to thank the Chamber of Engineers for their help in co organising this visit. Last and not least, we would like to thank Prof. Hani Hagras for accepting our invitation and finding the time to share his research, expertise and knowledge with the local engineering committee.

The tutorial explained in detail the type-1 fuzzy systems, the interval type-2 fuzzy logic systems and the general type-2 fuzzy logic systems. This lecture also explained the concepts of interval and general type-2 FLSs and presented an overview of the type-2 fuzzy logic systems and how they can be used to handle the high level of uncertainties present in real world applications. The presentation presented also novel frameworks to design general type-2 FLS. It also presented the successful application of type-2 FLSs to many real world settings including industrial environments, mobile robots, ambient intelligent environments video congestion control and intelligent decision support systems. The talk was concluded with an overview on the future directions of type-2 FLSs.

Dr Inġ. Owen

Casha

Dr Ing. Owen Casha, currently the chairman of the IEEE Malta Section, received the B. Eng. (Hons) degree from the University of Malta in 2004 with first class honours. In the same year, he joined the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (Faculty of Engineering) as a post graduate trainee. In 2007 he was appointed as assistant lecturer in the Department of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics (Faculty of ICT). From September 2007 till June 2008, he was on a research collaboration with CEA-LETI (Grenoble, France) and ST-Microelectronics, as part of his doctorate studies. He received a Ph.D. in Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design from the University of Malta in 2010 and promoted to Lecturer. Following eight years of lecturing and research duties, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in June 2015.

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24th Annual Engineering Conference

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MANAGING WEALTH is the name of the Game

Aldo Scardino, Executive Head Wealth Management at Bank of Valletta, talks about relationship with the customer is at the heart of wealth management.

How would you define Wealth Management?

Wealth Management is all about managing wealth within the ambit of investment objectives and investment horizons that are subjective to the individual client and his circumstances, at a given point in time. Over time, all variables – the client’s risk profile, his risk appetite and risk objectives change. For instance, a person’s objectives when he is starting out and building a pension plan would be very different from those of a person approaching retirement age.

How has the Wealth Management arm within Bank of Valletta developed over the years?

Wealth Management business in Malta is relatively new.

Until a few decades ago, there was relatively small Wealth Management business in Malta. Before then, the Maltese used to do their Wealth Management overseas and very few foreigners chose Malta as their wealth management jurisdiction. Maltese wealth has been repatriating, especially after the sovereign debt and banking crisis, where Malta and Maltese banks fared so well, and now even foreign high net worth individuals and families are choosing Malta as the place where to manage their wealth.

Bank of Valletta set up its Wealth Management arm in the early 1990s, at that time, through BOVI. Over the past four years, BOV Wealth Management has grown significantly. Nonetheless, this business is still relatively young and of strategic importance to the Bank.

What are the main challenges faced by Wealth Management today?

I think it will come as no surprise to cite regulation as the prime challenge. In fact, we are continuously reviewing the way we operate to ensure that we are in synch with the regulatory changes such as MiFID II, FATCA, QI, CRS, and the Single Regulatory Regime of the EU. Malta is also amending its own Conduct of Business rules which are still in the consultation process with the financial services industry. Most importantly, wealth managers have become price and standard takers as clients are becoming more demanding and sophisticated. Concurrently their mobility across service providers has increased.

Is your Wealth Management offering directed exclusively to personal clients?

True to most wealth management outfits, the personal segment forms the core of our client base. However, we are tailoring our services to corporate and fiduciary clients that are connected to the personal client base.

What do Wealth Management customers look out for?

Irrespective of whether they are personal or corporate, clients demand that their advisors manage their wealth as professionally as they themselves would manage their own business. Therefore, they expect a broad range of financial services, efficiency and competence, at a competitive cost, complete with peace of mind in respect of the custody of their assets.

What is the added value you are offering?

Our strength at BOV Wealth Management is the same strength that has always distinguished Bank of Valletta – the relationship we build with our customers, enabling us to customize our offering to our clients’ particular circumstances, every time.

At Bank of Valletta, Wealth Management is filling in a vacuum that is becoming increasingly more apparent, even to foreign customers. We pride ourselves in knowing the customer and keeping an active and open relationship. For us, it is neither about the size of the portfolio nor the automation of the relationship, but about the intimacy of the relationship between the Manager and the client and the nurturing of a long term and mutually beneficial relationship. Thus, in spite of the growth in our client base, we have continued to offer a personalized service.

Not all Wealth Managers can offer all the services.

Bank of Valletta is a universal player. Of course, this presents drawbacks, namely because we are competing on all fronts with niche players. However, our Wealth Management clients have immediate and direct access to ancillary financial services such as, traditional deposit and lending products, credit cards, internet banking, and custody to mention a few.

Bank of Valletta p.l.c. is a public limited company licensed to carry out the business of banking and investment services in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371 of the Laws of Malta) and the Investment Services Act (Cap. 370 of the Laws of Malta). Registered Office: 58, Triq San Zakkarija, Il-Belt Valletta VLT 1130-Malta Registration Number: C 2833

your wealth deserves expert management We understand perfectly that the accumulation of wealth requires years of hard work. We value the trust you place in us to manage your wealth responsibly.

Your success is our goal.

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Bank of Valletta p.l.c. is licensed to conduct investment services business by the Malta Financial Services Authority.

Issued by Bank of Valletta p.l.c., 58, Triq San Ĺťakkarija, il-Belt Valletta VLT 1130 - Malta

03/12/2015 12:43:24