Description:
- Building systems
- HVAC controls
- Heating and cooling
Abstract
USC researchers have designed a control system using a distributed approach with zones, combining adaptation and learning. The building is divided into different thermal zones, where each zone has its own controller. The main difference from current state of the art solutions is that the controller also reads measurements of the current zone temperature, target temperature, supplied air temperature, wall temperature, neighboring zone temperatures, and weather conditions. Based on this additional information, it calculates the control gains needed using an adaptive law, thus eliminating the control system’s dependence on building parameters. This adaptive scheme is able to overcome many different types of changes in building parameters and temperatures, regardless of whether they are abrupt or are varying in time.
Benefits
- Optimized HVAC solution for both performance and computational rigor
- Eliminates dependence on building parameters, wear and tear, and external temperature changes
Market Application
Developing appropriate mechanisms for HVAC system control within buildings involves comparing the potential trade-offs and considering the system parameters. There are two general strategies for HVAC control: either considering the entire building as a single system or dividing the building into thermal zones and designing controllers for each zone. Taking the building as a single system provides better performance across the board, at the expense of higher computational demands and a higher vulnerability to potential faults. Dividing it into thermal zones is a more robust, less computationally intensive solution, but neighboring zones may affect each other, leading to lower overall performance. In addition to the above, the building system dynamics are affected by both inhabitants’ activities and material wear and tear over time. Thus, there is a need for a solution for HVAC control that would be unaffected by the above-mentioned drawbacks.
Publications
Lymperopoulos, Georgios, and Petros Ioannou. "Distributed adaptive control of multi-zone HVAC systems." 2019 27th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED). IEEE, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1109/MED.2019.8798509
Stage of Development
- Proof of concept demonstrated
- Available for licensing