TR2013-050

A Method for Computing Optimal Set-Point Schedule for HVAC Systems


    •  Nikovski, D., Xu, J., Nonaka, M., "A Method for Computing Optimal Set-Point Schedule for HVAC Systems", REHVA World Congress (CLIMA), June 2013.
      BibTeX TR2013-050 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Nikovski2013jun2,
      • author = {Nikovski, D. and Xu, J. and Nonaka, M.},
      • title = {A Method for Computing Optimal Set-Point Schedule for HVAC Systems},
      • booktitle = {REHVA World Congress (CLIMA)},
      • year = 2013,
      • month = jun,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2013-050}
      • }
  • MERL Contact:
  • Research Area:

    Control

TR Image
Abstract:

We propose a method for model-based control of building air conditioning systems that minimizes energy costs while maintaining occupant comfort. The method uses a building thermal model in the form of a thermal circuit identified from collected sensor data, and reduces the building thermal dynamics to a Markov decision process (MDP) whose decision variables are the sequence of temperature set-points over a suitable horizon, for example one day. The main advantage of the resulting MDP model is that it is completely discrete, which allows for a very fast computation of the optimal sequence of temperature set-points. Experiments on thermal models demonstrate savings that can exceed 50% with respect to usual control strategies in buildings such as night setup.

 

  • Related News & Events