User-Adaptable Comfort Control for HVAC Systems

This paper describes a new approach to the control of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning(HVAC) system. In the conventional method for controlling HVAC systems, the occupant adjusts the reference input whenever the condition are uncomfortable. The reference input must be periodically adjusted because the controlled variable does not accurately reflect the comfort of the specific occupant. The fundamental concept of the approach described in this paper is that the controller learns to predict the actual thermal sensation of the specific use by tuning parameters of a model of thermal sensation. The parameters are adjusted with respect to the actual thermal sensation ratings of the specific occupant so that with time the model accurately reflects the comfort of the specific occupant. The stability of the controller is maintained by utilizing a priori information about the parameters of the model of thermal sensation. The method is implemented on a residential heat pump air conditioner. Experiments using human subjects verify the usefulness and feasibility of the method.