Gauge Newsletter September 2017 | Page 30

SMART HOMES

Ahome is a dwelling used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for a family. From the Stone Age, people needed a place to live in, so they found caves and made it their home. With the development of mankind, they built houses which were much more comfortable. Now we are at the new era in which everything is becoming more convenient. From the mobile phone to house that we live.

Source- resources0. news. com. au
Smart technologies comprise a dynamic new interdisciplinary research field with a wide spectrum of engineering applications including but not limited to intelligent structures and materials, actuators, sensors and structural observability. The smart home concept or home automation concept is not a new idea for the engineering world. It is really just a collection of technical home automation concepts that are implemented by an installer, and integrated to meet certain goals and expectations of the client. So, let’ s find out what those automation concepts are.
When you’ re not home, nagging little doubts can start to crowd your mind. Did I turn all the lights off? Or should I turn one light on? But with a smart home, you could quit all of these worries. The home will be intelligent enough to turn the lights off, if they are not needed and make the home tidy when you come back home and control your home from anywhere, any time. Let’ s talk about these controls one by one
Lighting control is the first feature in a home automatic system and it’ s not limited just to on or to off the light. It can set moods using different colors using RGB lights. Also, it can automatically add light when it becomes dark at the end of the day and save your money by only providing as much light as you actually need.
Controlling the heat entering a room is a great way to keep the house cool and it will help to lower the electricity bill too. Sun blinds, louvers or shutters can react to the sunlight and keep the UV and infrared rays out and it becomes cool inside the house. Interior blinds also stop heat entering rooms during the day and they are also useful in stopping internal heat being lost through large glass windows during cold nights.
Entertainment is as important as everything mentioned above. There are many areas of home entertainment that can be enhanced through smart home integration. You can play any movie from the Netflix, YouTube, and Cloud storage or from home media storage with your voice and to any screen at your home.
Air conditioning and environmental control is one of the key areas where money can be saved on power bills. With the smart home it will decide which area needed to be heated or cooled.
With the smart home, you can monitor the energy use of your home and drill down the usage of the power and adjust or move usage to a different time to reduce your power consumption, for example, from peak electricity tariff period to shoulder tariff.
Last but not least, security is the most important thing in a home. With a smart home, you can monitor your home anytime you want. If there is a stranger when you aren’ t at home, motion sensors will alert your phone and you can check
30 University of Peradeniya Gauge Magazine