Abstract
Increased use of energy in buildings and HVAC systems requires advanced control schemes like model-based control to improve energy efficiency, which in turn requires accurate thermodynamic models of buildings. The Resistive-Capacitive (RC) method is a popular and versatile approach for thermal modeling of buildings. Despite this, it is not easy to find practical solutions of implementation of the RC method. It is the goal of this paper to clarify the RC method and demonstrate simple implementation of this method, especially for multi-zone buildings, which have more potential for energy savings from use of model-based control. This paper provides two contributions. First is a detailed explanation of the RC method, focusing on its use for developing a structure of a model and first-principles approach for estimation of parameters of a model. Second is a demonstration of an algorithm that enables automatic development of the structure of a model from basic information about a building (layout, construction elements) and its combination with data-based parameter estimation. Use of the algorithm is presented with a case-study on industrial multi-zone building, for which such a grey-box model is developed and analyzed. The resulting model is rapidly developed and used in a simulation with the measured data. The outputs of the model are compared with the measured temperatures and they show good fit.
Highlights
There are several approaches to how to increase the energy efficiency in buildings: By taking care of the energy efficiency during the design phase and using contemporary technologies; by using materials and devices that increase it; by using more efficient HVAC systems, properly designed and based on renewable energy sources; by changing occupants’ habits to take more care concerning conserving energy; by using building management systems for tracking and optimizing energy usage; and by using advanced control methods for HVAC and connected systems [1]
There are strategies for increasing the energy efficiency in buildings that use alternative concepts: Papers [3,4,5] relied on occupancy-based demand controls, while paper [6] used occupant feedback to find optimal setpoints for HVAC control systems
Considering that the RC method has much more potential for creating detailed models of multi-zone buildings, it is the purpose of this paper to explain how to use this method in a real-life example
Summary
There are several approaches to how to increase the energy efficiency in buildings: By taking care of the energy efficiency during the design phase and using contemporary technologies; by using materials (better insulation) and devices (higher energy efficiency) that increase it; by using more efficient HVAC systems, properly designed and based on renewable energy sources; by changing occupants’ habits to take more care concerning conserving energy; by using building management systems for tracking and optimizing energy usage; and by using advanced control methods for HVAC and connected systems (lighting, windows, blinds, etc.) [1]. Considering that the RC method has much more potential for creating detailed models of multi-zone buildings (since such buildings can profit more from implementation of advanced control methods than simple family houses), it is the purpose of this paper to explain how to use this method in a real-life example. Two additions to the classical RC method are presented: An algorithm that enables automatic definition of detailed structure of the model for a multi-zone building based on the building’s layout and the materials used; and an approach for an offline estimation of parameters of such a model based on measured data. The fifth chapter gives the conclusion and explains the main benefits of this approach
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