Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems account for more than 15% of the total energy consumption in the US. In order to improve the energy efficiency of HVAC systems, researchers have developed hundreds of algorithms to automatically analyze their performance. However, the complex information, such as configurations of HVAC systems, layouts and materials of building elements a...

Intelligent building automation systems can reduce the energy consumption of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) units by sensing the comfort requirements automatically and scheduling the HVAC operations dynamically. Traditional building automation systems rely on fairly inaccurate occupancy sensors and basic predictive control using oversimplified building thermal response models,...

Most modern HVAC systems suffer from two intrinsic problems. First, inability to meet diverse comfort requirements of the occupants. Second, heat or cool an entire zone even when the zone is only partially occupied. Both issues can be mitigated by using personal comfort systems (PCS) which bridge the comfort gap between what is provided by a central HVAC system and the personal preferences of t...

This paper attempts to describe the advantages and disadvantages of different modelling approaches for design and performance evaluation of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for buildings. Merits and drawbacks of the various modelling methods are illustrated by case study material. Finally some conclusions and directions for future work are indicated. Ke ywords: building...

Swedish nuclear plants are slowly being shut down as a result of a referendum in 1980. This was one starting point for the thermal energy storage (TES) expansion in Sweden. Now, the new EU directive on energy efficient buildings forces HVAC engineers and civil engineers to look for new methods to reduce electricity consumption and to improve energy performance in new and existing buildings. Thi...

This paper presents the development of a simulation tool based on the Matlab computational environment for building temperature performance analysis with automatic control. The simulation tool contains mathematical models for buildings, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems, sensors, weather data and control algorithms. The building mathematical model is described in terms of...

A knowledge-based system is presented that has been developed to be used as an advisor in the preliminary design stage of HVAC systems. It enables designers to configure and size HVAC equipment for different climatic conditions, in terms of building type, indoor requirements, outdoor and indoor air pollution. A new approach has been used in building the system, using a modified knowledge engine...

Usually, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) duct system in buildings is a complex network of hollow metal pipes of rectangular or circular cross-section which behave as multimode waveguides when driven at RF and microwave frequencies of common interest. HVAC ducts can be used as a wireless communication channel for providing high-speed network access to offices [1]. An exampl...

The objective of this study is to determine the most energy efficient and cost effective combination of architectural elements and mechanical systems to specify in an office building while maintaining a comfortable and healthy indoor environment for the occupants. A commercial office building located in the Minneapolis area with three heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems an...