Theory and applications of HVAC control systems – A review of model predictive control (MPC)

Achieving better energy-efficient air conditioning - A review of technologies and strategies

Robust optimization based optimal chiller loading under cooling demand uncertainty

In the last few years, the application of Model Predictive Control (MPC) for energy management in buildings has received significant attention from the research community. MPC is becoming more and more viable because of the increase in computational power of building automation systems and the availability of a significant amount of monitored building data. MPC has found successful implementation in building thermal regulation, fully exploiting the potential of building thermal mass. Moreover, MPC has been positively applied to active energy storage systems, as well as to the optimal management of on-site renewable energy sources. MPC also opens up several opportunities for enhancing energy efficiency in the operation of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems because of its ability to consider constraints, prediction of disturbances and multiple conflicting objectives, such as indoor thermal comfort and building energy demand. Despite the application of MPC algorithms in building control has been thoroughly investigated in various works, a unified framework that fully describes and formulates the implementation is still lacking. Firstly, this work introduces a common dictionary and taxonomy that gives a common ground to all the engineering disciplines involved in building design and control. Secondly the main scope of this paper is to define the MPC formulation framework and critically discuss the outcomes of different existing MPC algorithms for building and HVAC system management. The potential benefits of the application of MPC in improving energy efficiency in buildings were highlighted.

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Model Predictive Control (MPC) for Enhancing Building and HVAC System Energy Efficiency: Problem Formulation, Applications and Opportunities

Review of modeling methods for HVAC systems

Data-driven Fault Detection and Diagnosis for HVAC water chillers

Increased concern about the environmental impact of the refrigeration technology is leading toward design solutions aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the related applications, using eco-friendly refrigerants, i.e. ozone-friendly and with the least possible global warming potential (GWP). In this respect, carbon dioxide (ASHRAE R744) is seen today as one of the most promising refrigerants and is raising great interest in industrial and scientific fields. In the present work, the plant options are investigated, which are related to the design of air/water heat pumps for tap water using CO2. A comparison is made, in terms of energy efficiency, between a system working with CO2 and a similar one working with HFC R134a; such a comparison is carried out by means of a simulation model of a refrigerating machine/heat pump, characterized by a detailed representation of the heat exchangers, based on their subdivision into elementary volumes. Results show that carbon dioxide is an interesting substitute for synthetic fluids, if the design of the system is focused to take advantage of its properties. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Carbon dioxide as refrigerant for tap water heat pumps: A comparison with the traditional solution

The aim of this paper is to investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the potential of improving the cycle efficiency through two stage compression with intermediate cooling, at operating conditions typical of air conditioning. The experimental set-up consists of two closed loop air circuits acting as heat sink and heat source for gas-cooler and evaporator, respectively. The tested refrigerating circuit includes two tube-and-fin heat exchangers as gas-cooler and evaporator, a back-pressure valve as throttling device and a double-stage semi-hermetic compound, two-piston, reciprocating compressor equipped with oil separator and intercooler. A full set of thermocouples, pressure transducers and flow-meters allows measurement of all the main parameters of the CO 2 cycle, enabling to perform heat balance both air and refrigerant side. Tests were run at fixed evaporation pressure, evaporator outlet superheating and gas-cooler outlet temperature, varying the gas-cooler outlet pressure in the range 8–11 MPa. The optimal gas-cooler pressure for this application as well as the effect of the intercooler efficiency on the cycle performance were investigated. A FORTRAN code for the simulation of an improved two-stage cycle was validated against the experimental results; a theoretical analysis performed with this code is proposed for optimisation and energy performance evaluation of such a cycle.

Two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycle optimisation: A theoretical and experimental analysis

The aim of this paper is the thermodynamic evaluation and optimisation of different two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycles. Five different cycles are studied: basic single-stage cycle, single-throttling with two-stage compression cycle, split cycle, phase separation cycle and single-stage cycle coupled with a gas cooling circuit. Each basic cycle is analysed for the effect of internal heat transfer between different streams of refrigerants. In the case of two-stage compression, intermediate cooling between the compressor stages is present. An analysis on the Plank cycle for intermediate pressure higher than critical one is performed. Each cycle is optimised with regards to energy performance, calculating the optimal values of both the upper and the intermediate pressures. In the case of split cycle, the ratio of the mass flow rate in the main stream to the one in the auxiliary stream is also optimised.

Luca Cecchinato

Papers

Data-driven Fault Detection and Diagnosis for HVAC water chillers

Carbon dioxide as refrigerant for tap water heat pumps: A comparison with the traditional solution

Two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycle optimisation: A theoretical and experimental analysis

Thermodynamic analysis of different two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycles

A PSO-based algorithm for optimal multiple chiller systems operation