Predictive control of complex hydronic systems

The control of hydronic building systems is considered in this paper, using a simulated chilled water system as a case study. In this context, model-based predictive control strategies have been proposed and compared with traditional feedback control schemes. The advantages and limitations associated with these methodologies has been demonstrated. The cornerstone of this work is the development of a novel, distributed predictive scheme which provides the best compromise in the multidimensional evaluation framework of `regulation´, `optimality´, `reliability´ and `computational complexity´.