EQWIN-P

The EQWIN-P research project aims to improve the price-performance ratio of energy-efficient buildings by increasing the degree of automation in the processing of building envelope data.

So far, building envelope data are processed within a software application, but usually the data are not compatible between different applications. They must therefore be transferred manually or in broken digital chains. This includes numerous proprietary formats, some of which are also only interpretable in certain knowledge contexts. In addition, many highly complex measurement data only acquire added value for planning purposes through algorithms, so that there is an urgent need to make relevant methods for evaluating building envelopes available to the broad market as uniformly as possible.

Our research objective in EQWIN-P is to develop an interface specification with which building envelope data can be automatically exchanged between databases and applications. This will create a "common language for building envelope data".

In the future, different server types will be connected by a uniform interface specification. Software applications will communicate automatically with these interfaces and provide users with high-quality graphical user interfaces. A "metabase" ensures uniqueness of IDs across servers and enables easy searching of all databases through a single query to the metabase.

Programmers use the interface specification to develop software that automatically queries the interfaces and automatically processes the interface responses. But this automation has been lacking until now: today, building envelope data is processed within a software application, but manual transfer usually takes place between different applications. This often makes it impossible or very time-consuming to further process data from one format in another application. In addition, it is often unclear exactly how the data set was created and whether it originated from a trusted source.

Instead of many manual steps, the project will enable planners to use up-to-date and high-quality building envelope data more easily and comprehensively in the future. Instead of offering their product data in many different formats and keeping the content up-to-date in a cost-intensive manner, component and software manufacturers can use a uniform form of data exchange for numerous data and method libraries used by different applications. This enables better product differentiation in the marketplace. Energy-efficient, sustainable buildings can thus be planned more efficiently and at lower cost than before.

In EQWIN-P, Fraunhofer is working with partners to design and implement a platform so that, at the end of the project, hygrothermal data and "methods as a service" for optical data, among other things, can be used online. For this purpose, demonstrators for practical application scenarios, e.g. for energy consulting, summer heat protection, use of daylight, hygrothermics will be developed. In addition, the work will be coordinated internationally via participation incl. management of an IEA project.