Fuzzy Controllers Instead of Classical PIDs in HVAC Equipment: Dusting Off a Well-Known Technology and Today’s Implementation for Better Energy Efficiency and User Comfort

Adrian Chojecki, Arkadiusz Ambroziak and Piotr Borkowski ()
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Adrian Chojecki: Department of Electrical Apparatus, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-537 Lodz, Poland
Arkadiusz Ambroziak: Department of Electrical Apparatus, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-537 Lodz, Poland
Piotr Borkowski: Department of Electrical Apparatus, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-537 Lodz, Poland

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-21

Abstract: Cutting-edge building energy management systems (BEMS) interact with heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which generally account for much of the energy consumption. Major attention is focused on the BEMS themselves, barring on-field equipment. In HVAC equipment, sub-optimal controller settings may lead to energy losses and user discomfort, for instance, due to oscillations of air temperature and fan speeds. The way to solve this problem could be to replace classical PID controllers with an alternative concept that does not require tuning and works optimally for a wide range of parameters. This paper compares a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) with a standard PID for a model-based simulation of an HVAC system in Simulink for different conditions using real building measurement data. The end result is the implementation of the developed methods in a newly designed universal control board for air handling units (AHU). The proposed FLC achieves better integral control quality indicators (IAE, ISE, ITAE, ITSE) by at least 27.4%, and smaller supply air temperature variation; the daily mean square error (MSE) was reduced by an average of 36%, which leads immediately to better occupant comfort and a presumed reduction in energy consumption. Compared to the untuned PID, energy consumption was 12.7% lower; this will ensure improved economy from the lowest level, and paves the way for interoperability with high-level energy management schemes.

Keywords: HVAC; AHU; indoor air; fuzzy logic; fuzzy control; intelligent control; hardware controllers; embedded systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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