Control in building energy management systems: the role of simulation

Technological advances in real-time data collection, data transfer and ever-increasing computational power are bringing simulation assisted control and on-line fault detection and diagnosis closer to reality than was imagined when Building Energy Management Systems were introduced in the 1970s. This paper describes the development and testing of a prototype simulation assisted controller, in which adetailed simulation program is embedded in realtime control decision making. Results from an experiment in a full-scale environmental test facility demonstrate the feasibility of predictive control using a physically-based thermal simulation program.