Development and evaluation of an energy-efficient intelligent infrared heating system for industrial buildings

Abstract

Energy efficiency is a global problem that has become a top priority for all developed countries in recent years. Limited energy resources and high pollution worldwide have led to an increase in research and development in terms of energy efficiency. In the present work, one of the energy-efficient methods for heating by using infrared sources is focused. The advantages of infrared heaters compared to standard heating sources are underlined. A comparative study of the energy consumed during heating by the most frequently used by the heating systems has been made, and the results of the theoretically calculated power costs are presented. An intelligent system has been developed for the management of the infrared heaters to reduce the consumption of electricity better. The intelligent control system is based on a fuzzy-logic control and an internet of things. Results of simulation experiments of the intelligent system are presented as well as of the application of the system in a real environment. During the experiments, the system successes to control the heaters and to reduce power consumption. The achieved results prove that signal processing and control can improve the performance by using modern sensor systems, thereby additional efficiency can be achieved by using the infrared heating. It is possible to develop different optimization systems and algorithms for increasing the energy efficiency of different heating systems.