Dynamic Activation of Structural Thermal Mass in A Multi-Zonal Building with Due Regard to Thermal Comfort

The following analysis faces the challenge of matching the availability of renewable energies with the heating demand of a residential one-family house through demand side management. Depending on the availability signal of excess renewable electricity generation, the building’s structural thermal mass is activated through the heating system. Thereby, the air temperatures in different building zones are dynamically controlled according to the type of the zone, the current and the expected occupancy. It is shown that the share of the energy demand covered during periods of excess renewable energy can be more than doubled, yet causing some potential comfort violations. However, the presented multi-zone control algorithm with occupancy and building behaviour forecasting can distinctly reduce the occuring comfort violations, while just slightly reducing the storage potential.