Smart grid controller for optimizing HVAC energy consumption

Abstract

As the smart grid emerges from concept to implementation, power utilities start to optimize power consumed by Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning Systems (HVACs). Engineers started to design controllers that better manage the power consumption of the HVAC systems. HVACs consume more than 50% of generated power in many countries that have hot and/or cold weather. Such huge power loads may exceed the generated power. Due to this large power demands, some utilities have to resort to rationalize the available electricity to its consumers randomly. This paper presents a fuzzy logic based system that monitors and controls residential HVACs units, where demand exceeds the supplied electrical power. The proposed system reads the rooms temperature and turns ON/OFF the units alternatively to maintain the cooling/heating based on the available supplied power; i.e. shedding the load without compromising the residents comfort. The proposed fuzzy logic rule-based system was designed, simulated and tested.