An experimental system for advanced heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) control

While having the potential to significantly improve heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system performance, advanced (e.g., optimal, robust and various forms of adaptive) controllers have yet to be incorporated into commercial systems. Controllers consisting of distributed proportional-integral (PI) control loops continue to dominate commercial HVAC systems. Investigation into advanced HVAC controllers has largely been limited to proposals and simulations, with few controllers being tested on physical systems. While simulation can be insightful, the only true means for verifying the performance provided by HVAC controllers is by actually using them to control an HVAC system. The construction and modeling of an experimental system for testing advanced HVAC controllers, is the focus of this article.