Knowledge-based automation for energy conservation and indoor air quality control in HVAC processes

Abstract

Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) processes provide a comfortable environment, but consume a great deal of energy. Many efforts have been put into building energy conservation since the energy crisis of 1973. On the other hand, the energy conservation efforts have led to tight building envelopes and low ventilation rates, which cause poor indoor air quality (IAQ), the so called “Sick Building Syndrome”. A conflict exists between energy saving and indoor air quality improvement. In this paper, a knowledge-based automation approach is proposed to support HVAC operations, aimed at improving energy conservation and IAQ control. The construction of an Intelligent Operation Support System (IOSS) for HVAC processes is described. It consists of expert systems for operation planning, comfort setting, conflict reasoning and some other functions. The expert system for operation planning provides recommendations of energy saving operation modes for HVAC processes. The comfort indoor setting system sets indoor temperature by a comfort strategy with the advantages of energy saving, thermal comfort and better indoor air quality, instead of thermostats. The conflict reasoning system obtains a conflict resolution for energy saving and IAQ control. An integrated distributed intelligent system framework is introduced to integrate these systems. IOSS provides a real-time integrated operation planning method and can be used to assist or train operators to achieve better operation in HVAC systems.