Prediction of Electric Power Demand of HVACs for Operating Rooms in Case of Dynamic Set Points of Temperature: A Case Study

Abstract

In healthcare settings, particularly in areas such as operating rooms and intensive care units, there is a need for a dynamically controlled temperature environment that can adapt to the changing needs of both patients and healthcare workers. This is due to the fact that the desired temperature can vary depending on the condition of the patient and the specific requirements of surgical and treatment procedures. To address this need, our objective is to develop a tool for predicting the electric power needed to maintain a desired temperature in these critical care areas. Previous research has employed artificial learning algorithms and mathematical equations to predict electric power for various types and sizes of buildings, with promising results. However, our study focuses specifically on critical care areas within hospitals and utilizes fluctuating temperature set-points to predict power demand using historical weather data and Building Management System (BMS) data. We employed both Multi-Layer Artificial Neural Network (ML-ANN) and Long short-term memory (LSTM) models for this purpose and found that ML-ANN outperformed LSTM. The results showed that the ML-ANN model performed better than the LSTM model, with a testing accuracy of 96% compared to 78% for the LSTM model. This indicates that the ML-ANN model was more accurate in predicting the power consumption for the desired temperature in the operating room.