IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i3p347-d200147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Control Strategies in Multi-Zone Air Conditioning Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Behzad Rismanchi

    (Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia)

  • Juan Mahecha Zambrano

    (Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia)

  • Bryan Saxby

    (OAIRO Alliance Ltd, Unit M, Bourne End Business Park, Bucks SL66TG, UK)

  • Ross Tuck

    (OAIRO Alliance Ltd, Unit M, Bourne End Business Park, Bucks SL66TG, UK)

  • Mark Stenning

    (OAIRO Alliance Ltd, Unit M, Bourne End Business Park, Bucks SL66TG, UK)

Abstract

In a commercial building, a significant amount of energy is used by the ventilation systems to condition the air for the indoor environments to satisfy the required quantity (temperature and humidity) and quality (amount of fresh air). For many years, Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems have been considered as the most efficient solutions by balancing the airflow volume based on the demand making them energy efficient when compared with the traditional Constant Air Volume (CAV) systems. However, the setpoints in VAV systems are often misread by the sensors due to stratification and formation of pollutant pockets and responding to design levels that overestimate the real-time demand conditions, which result in waste of energy, thermal discomfort and unhealthy air. In general, VAV devices are expensive, complicated and prone to failures and they are used only in medium and large projects. More recently, new technologies have evolved to solve this issue. In one of the new solutions, VAV motors terminals are replaced with flaps which are simpler and less expensive thus, they can be implemented in a wider range of projects. In systems, balancing and supplying the optimal airflow to reduce the energy consumption while delivering ideal thermal and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) levels are the main challenges. In this paper, a comparison of the recent technologies with traditional VAV systems is presented to be used as a guild line for researchers and designers in the field of Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC).

Suggested Citation

  • Behzad Rismanchi & Juan Mahecha Zambrano & Bryan Saxby & Ross Tuck & Mark Stenning, 2019. "Control Strategies in Multi-Zone Air Conditioning Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:3:p:347-:d:200147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/3/347/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/3/347/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Okochi, Godwine Swere & Yao, Ye, 2016. "A review of recent developments and technological advancements of variable-air-volume (VAV) air-conditioning systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 784-817.
    2. Chenari, Behrang & Dias Carrilho, João & Gameiro da Silva, Manuel, 2016. "Towards sustainable, energy-efficient and healthy ventilation strategies in buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1426-1447.
    3. Hyo-Jun Kim & Young-Hum Cho, 2017. "A Study on a Control Method with a Ventilation Requirement of a VAV System in Multi-Zone," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Jing, Gang & Cai, Wenjian & Zhang, Xin & Cui, Can & Yin, Xiaohong & Xian, Huacai, 2019. "Modeling, air balancing and optimal pressure set-point selection for the ventilation system with minimized energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 574-589.
    5. Liu, Di & Zhao, Fu-Yun & Tang, Guang-Fa, 2010. "Active low-grade energy recovery potential for building energy conservation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2736-2747, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hyo-Jun Kim & Young-Hum Cho, 2021. "Optimal Control Method of Variable Air Volume Terminal Unit System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Rima Aridi & Jalal Faraj & Samer Ali & Mostafa Gad El-Rab & Thierry Lemenand & Mahmoud Khaled, 2021. "Energy Recovery in Air Conditioning Systems: Comprehensive Review, Classifications, Critical Analysis, and Potential Recommendations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-31, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing, Gang & Cai, Wenjian & Zhang, Xin & Cui, Can & Liu, Hongwu & Wang, Cheng, 2020. "An energy-saving control strategy for multi-zone demand controlled ventilation system with data-driven model and air balancing control," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Li, Bingxu & Wu, Bingjie & Peng, Yelun & Cai, Wenjian, 2022. "Tube-based robust model predictive control of multi-zone demand-controlled ventilation systems for energy saving and indoor air quality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    3. Ma, Nan & Aviv, Dorit & Guo, Hongshan & Braham, William W., 2021. "Measuring the right factors: A review of variables and models for thermal comfort and indoor air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Jing, Gang & Cai, Wenjian & Zhang, Xin & Cui, Can & Yin, Xiaohong & Xian, Huacai, 2019. "An energy-saving oriented air balancing strategy for multi-zone demand-controlled ventilation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1053-1065.
    5. Mukhtar, A. & Ng, K.C. & Yusoff, M.Z., 2018. "Passive thermal performance prediction and multi-objective optimization of naturally-ventilated underground shelter in Malaysia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 342-352.
    6. David Vérez & Luisa F. Cabeza, 2021. "Which Building Services Are Considered to Have Impact on Climate Change?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Hyo-Jun Kim & Young-Hum Cho, 2021. "Optimal Control Method of Variable Air Volume Terminal Unit System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Sanjeeta N. Ghimire & Garrett Dave Hunter, 2020. "Energy Consumption, Window Size, and Environment-Friendly Building Design: Analysis Using Scale Model Houses," Journal of Development Innovations, KarmaQuest International, vol. 4(1), pages 64-79, July.
    9. Zhikun Ding & Rongsheng Liu & Zongjie Li & Cheng Fan, 2020. "A Thematic Network-Based Methodology for the Research Trend Identification in Building Energy Management," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-33, September.
    10. Cui, Can & Zhang, Xin & Cai, Wenjian, 2020. "An energy-saving oriented air balancing method for demand controlled ventilation systems with branch and black-box model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    11. Mukhtar, A. & Ng, K.C. & Yusoff, M.Z., 2018. "Design optimization for ventilation shafts of naturally-ventilated underground shelters for improvement of ventilation rate and thermal comfort," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 183-198.
    12. Qi-Gan Shao & James J. H. Liou & Sung-Shun Weng & Yen-Ching Chuang, 2018. "Improving the Green Building Evaluation System in China Based on the DANP Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Gianluca Serale & Massimo Fiorentini & Alfonso Capozzoli & Daniele Bernardini & Alberto Bemporad, 2018. "Model Predictive Control (MPC) for Enhancing Building and HVAC System Energy Efficiency: Problem Formulation, Applications and Opportunities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-35, March.
    14. Rafael Herrera-Limones & Ángel Luis León-Rodríguez & Álvaro López-Escamilla, 2019. "Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean: Comfort and the Balance between Passive and Active Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Li, Wuyan & Li, Xianting & Gao, Yijun & Shi, Wenxing, 2022. "Thermo-economic evaluation for energy retrofitting building ventilation system based on run-around heat recovery system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    16. Png, Ethan & Srinivasan, Seshadhri & Bekiroglu, Korkut & Chaoyang, Jiang & Su, Rong & Poolla, Kameshwar, 2019. "An internet of things upgrade for smart and scalable heating, ventilation and air-conditioning control in commercial buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 408-424.
    17. Liu, Di & Zhao, Fu-Yun & Yang, Hongxing & Tang, Guang-Fa, 2015. "Theoretical and experimental investigations of thermoelectric heating system with multiple ventilation channels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 458-468.
    18. Payam Nejat & Fatemeh Jomehzadeh & Hasanen Mohammed Hussen & John Kaiser Calautit & Muhd Zaimi Abd Majid, 2018. "Application of Wind as a Renewable Energy Source for Passive Cooling through Windcatchers Integrated with Wing Walls," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Dimitris Katsaprakakis & Vasilis Kagiamis & George Zidianakis & Luca Ambrosini, 2019. "Operation Algorithms and Computational Simulation of Physical Cooling and Heat Recovery for Indoor Space Conditioning. A Case Study for a Hydro Power Plant in Lugano, Switzerland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-36, August.
    20. Fabrizio, Enrico & Seguro, Federico & Filippi, Marco, 2014. "Integrated HVAC and DHW production systems for Zero Energy Buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 515-541.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:3:p:347-:d:200147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.