Hierarchical Model Predictive Control Approach for Optimal Demand Response for Small/Medium-sized Commercial Buildings

Abstract

Small and medium-sized commercial buildings, such as retail stores, restaurants and factories, often utilize multiple roof top units (RTU s) to provide cooling and heating for open spaces. A conventional control approach for these buildings relies on local feedback control, where each unit is cycled on and off using its own thermostat. Because thermostats operate independently with no knowledge of the buildings behavior and it does not take significant advantage of the buildings thermal mass, the conventional control approach typically result in high energy cost and electrical peak demand. A hierarchical model-based control approach (MPC) that coordinates multiple RTUs for better building performance for those buildings is presented in this paper. A simulation result show it is able to respond to a price signal using building thermal inertia and significantly reduce peak demand.