A Wireless Platform for Energy Efficient Building Control Retrofits

Abstract : An advanced energy management and control system in an existing building in the Construction and Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) for Army at Urbana-Champaign (IL) was demonstrated. The medium-size office building underwent a retrofit of the HVAC system and controls employing a technology called optimal Model Predictive Control (MPC) which offers significant potential for saving energy by providing a means to dynamically optimize various sub-systems to take advantage of building utilization and weather patterns, and utility rate structures. A multi-variable optimization problem to minimize energy consumption and cost while guaranteeing zonal comfort over a 3 hour predictive horizon was formulated and solved periodically on line. The algorithms were integrated with the building automation system and evaluated experimentally at the demonstration site. A 45-50% reduction in HVAC system energy use was demonstrated while improving occupant comfort. A 10-15% installation cost reduction was accomplished due to the use of a robust wireless sensor network versus a fully wired network.