Distributed estimation of lumped parameters of multi-zone small-middle size commercial buildings with minimal observations & implementation

Abstract

Installation of an energy management system (EMS) that could minimize the buildings peak load can be impractical, having a long and uncertain return on investment. Identification of building thermal lumped parameters 1) using only zone and supply air temperature measurements for constant- and variable-air volume HVAC equipment, and 2) a distributed algorithm for buildings with large number of zones is discussed for inexpensive thermostatic control retrofits as alternative to traditional supervisory Heat, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) controller. The challenges in implementation of the proposed approach at two New York State buildings for demonstration and analysis are described: One building which we retrofitted with low-cost off-the-shelf wireless sensors and another building which was recently renovated and fitted with a new HVAC system with the state-of-art supervisory controllers. The differences in simulation-based (e.g., TrnSysTM) analysis and on-site implementation are highlighted. Finally, the results and performance of the proposed distributed estimation algorithm on the actual data from demonstration buildings are provided.