Ideal conditions for school – diagnostics and artificial intelligence enhance maintenance at a school in Finland.

The new AI-based technology makes the building smart and self-learning. It also makes the maintenance of the property more predictable and the indoor air better.

The Jynkkä school in Kuopio, built with the YIT life cycle model, will use the new AI-based Nuuka Diagnostics and Nuuka AI systems by Nuuka Solutions. They help to anticipate future maintenance needs, save on renovations and improve the indoor air and energy efficiency of the building.

Diagnostics automation frees uptime

When it comes to reducing the energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions of buildings, property owners and users also expect better energy efficiency. However, modern buildings and advanced technical building systems can be complex.

“For example, modern school buildings have thousands of sensors and a large amount of automation-controlled technical building system equipment. Their monitoring with traditional methods takes too much time and inevitably leads to problems being overlooked,” says Juho Siitonen, VP, Strategy, and Development at YIT’s Business premises segment.

With Nuuka Diagnostics, the condition of the Jynkkä school’s HVAC systems and building automation can be monitored automatically. In condition monitoring, the condition of the building as well as the condition and remaining operating time of the building’s equipment can be determined using different measurement methods and analyses.

With analyzed data available, technical building systems specialists and maintenance personnel will no longer need to perform manual checks. Instead, they can focus on anticipating future maintenance needs and schedule tasks more efficiently. The diagnostics solution gives maintenance professionals instant access to all the details that can be used to enhance possible maintenance, repair, or indoor air and energy use.

AI makes the school learn

The Jynkkä school will also start using Nuuka AI, an AI-based building optimization solution.

“Nuuka AI automatically learns the relation between ventilation and heating systems in the building and uses it as the basis for optimizing ventilation volumes, pressure ratios, and the operation of the heating system in the building,” says Mikko Maja, Nuuka’s CTO and one of its founders.

Nuuka AI updates the correct setpoints for building automation once a minute. During one month, the setpoints are updated more than 44,000 times. Even small adjustments will lead to significant improvements in indoor air quality and energy efficiency.

Keeping the school’s room temperatures and carbon dioxide levels appropriate for the use or, as during the coronavirus pandemic, under particular control, will keep the premises comfortable and safe for their users.

“The best possible indoor air quality not only improves alertness and ability to concentrate but also reduces sick leaves,” Maja points out.