Air-conditioning research at XJTLU could lead to big energy savings

"Most of the energy consumption inside buildings is related to cooling and heating systems," said Mehdi, who is from Iran. "That's why we focused on this area. However, my methods could be applied to lighting systems as well."

"Most of the energy consumption inside buildings is related to cooling and heating systems," said Mehdi, who is from Iran. "That's why we focused on this area. However, my methods could be applied to lighting systems as well."

The principle of his method is to collect data on the occupants of buildings - their 'occupancy patterns' or what areas of buildings people occupy and at what times, and their 'thermal preferences' or how hot or cold people prefer particular rooms to be - and to feed this data into computers that control Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning systems (HVAC).

Machine learning algorithms can then determine when rooms are occupied by particular people, with HVAC settings being automatically adjusted to suit their preferences. It can also be determined when rooms are unoccupied so that air-conditioners can be automatically turned off.

Mehdi completed a masters degree in energy and sustainability with electrical engineering at the University of Southampton, UK, before deciding to pursue at PhD at XJTLU. He chose to conduct his research in China due to the relatively low cost of equipment, but also because of the support XJTLU offers for interdisciplinary research projects.

"XJTLU is a young and vibrant university where academic staff are open-minded and willing to do multidisciplinary research collaborations," said Dr Zhang from the Department of Civil Engineering at XJTLU, principle supervisor of Mehdi's PhD project. "That's how Mehdi's research could be successfully done with support from experts from the departments of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and Software Engineering."

Founded in 2006, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is the largest international joint venture university in China, a partnership between Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool.

Our vision is to become a research-led international university in China and a Chinese university recognised internationally for its unique features.