Estimating airflow rates in air-handling units from actuator control signals

The design and accuracy of simple airflow estimators that are based on actuator control signals are investigated. A computer simulation of the air-circuits of a variable-air-volume air-conditioning system is developed and validated experimentally. The simulation is used to examine the relationship between the supply airflow, the extract airflow and the inlet airflow, and the control signals for the fans and the mixing-box dampers in the air-handling unit (AHU). Based on the simulation results, linear estimators are proposed for the estimation of airflow rates in AHUs. The accuracy of the linear estimators, which are calibrated using measured data collected from the air-conditioning system during testing and balancing, is examined using data collected from a full-scale air-conditioning system. The results show that the estimation errors are less than 8% of full-scale.