SETIS: an intelligent System for Building thermal Design

SETIS is aiming at building a computer support for building thermal design. It deals both with the envelop of building and with its HVAC system. This project is managed by OCGR, a french civil engineering office, and a laboratory of Institut National des Sciences Appliques de LYON. This collaboration is very important because SETIS is defined as a tool that integrates both algorithmic programs and knowledge based parts. Calculating tools and knowledge bases triggered by the inference engine of Nexpert Object, have been built. They both work on the same database where a thermal description of the building to design is stored. The algorithmic tools let the user reckon U-value of walls or simulate thermal behavior of the building. The knowledge bases make data input easier : SETIS is thus available since the initial state of design. They select HVAC principles too. Then, each airconditioning system can be evaluated on ten thermal, technical or economical criteria. The following stages of this project are double: install SETIS in OCGR and INSA, and build a supervisor, that is a knowledge base which suggests modifications or actions to the designer.