6th International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools

Research Article

Quantitative Methods for Comparing Different HVAC Control Schemes

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/valuetools.2012.250305,
        author={Anil Aswani and Neal Master and Jay Taneja and Andrew Krioukov and David Culler and Claire Tomlin},
        title={Quantitative Methods for Comparing Different HVAC Control Schemes},
        proceedings={6th International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={VALUETOOLS},
        year={2012},
        month={11},
        keywords={hvac energy-efficiency comfort metrics control},
        doi={10.4108/valuetools.2012.250305}
    }
    
  • Anil Aswani
    Neal Master
    Jay Taneja
    Andrew Krioukov
    David Culler
    Claire Tomlin
    Year: 2012
    Quantitative Methods for Comparing Different HVAC Control Schemes
    VALUETOOLS
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/valuetools.2012.250305
Anil Aswani1,*, Neal Master2, Jay Taneja1, Andrew Krioukov1, David Culler1, Claire Tomlin1
  • 1: University of California, Berkeley
  • 2: Stanford University
*Contact email: aaswani@eecs.berkeley.edu

Abstract

Experimentally comparing the energy usage and comfort characteristics of different controllers in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems is difficult because variations in weather and occupancy conditions preclude the possibility of establishing equivalent experimental conditions across the order of hours, days, and weeks. This paper is concerned with defining quantitative metrics of energy usage and occupant comfort, which can be computed and compared in a rigorous manner that is capable of determining whether differences between controllers are statistically significant in the presence of such environmental fluctuations. Experimental case studies are presented that compare two alternative controllers (a schedule controller and a hybrid system learning-based model predictive controller) to the default controller in a building-wide HVAC system. Lastly, we discuss how our proposed methodology may also be able to quantify the efficiency of other building automation systems.