Occupant-engaged Control for HVAC Systems with a Social Influence Model

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we present a novel occupant-engaged demand response system from the perspective of cyber-physical-human systems (CPHS). Traditional building automation systems in cyber-physical systems (CPS) are designed purely based on thermal and mechanical requirements, without considering the impact of occupants’ psychological motivations, such as peer pressure, social recognition, and gaming experiences. The proposed occupant engaged demand response system is designed with social factor in mind. From the social behavior perspective, we provide a social influence model, which consists of occupant internal interactions and incentive engineering. The occupants internal interactions are introduced to address peer pressure and social recognition. Meanwhile, the incentive mechanism is also included to illustrate the interactions between the building management system and occupants via monetary encouragement.