Control of thermally activated building systems (TABS) in intermittent operation with pulse width modulation

Thermally activated building systems (TABS) integrate the building structure as energy storage, and have proofed to be energy efficient and economic viable for the heating and cooling of buildings. Although TABS are increasingly used, in many cases control has remained an issue to be improved. In this paper, a method is outlined allowing for automated control of TABS in intermittent operation with pulse width modulation (PWM). This method represents one part of a TABS control solution with automatic switching between cooling and heating modes for variable comfort criteria which was published before. A first pulse width modulation control solution is derived based on a simple 1st order model of TABS. Then a second, even simpler solution is given that significantly reduces the tuning effort. Finally, the paper outlines a pulse width modulation control procedure and gives two application examples of the PWM control carried out in a laboratory test room.