Dynamic ventilation control for a building
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Solution Overview
Problem
HVAC systems face challenges in dynamically determining optimal ventilation rates that balance energy efficiency and indoor air quality, particularly during conditions like pandemics where increased ventilation is needed without compromising occupant comfort or exceeding HVAC capacity.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a method using a learned model to dynamically control HVAC systems, including an outdoor air ventilation damper, by selecting from various ventilation modes that prioritize either energy savings or health-based ventilation, while maintaining comfort conditions, and employing predictive control based on a non-linear building model to adjust ventilation rates accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ventilation rate is increased to reduce contaminates and improve indoor air quality, then the health and safety of occupants is improved, but the energy consumption of the HVAC system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the ventilation rate based on real-time conditions including occupancy levels, outdoor air quality, and HVAC capacity. The ventilation rate is not fixed but varies continuously to balance indoor air quality requirements with energy consumption constraints, allowing the system to respond adaptively to changing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the ventilation rate parameter dynamically based on learned models of building dynamics and HVAC capacity. By adjusting this key parameter in response to varying conditions such as occupancy, outdoor conditions, and equipment capacity, the system optimizes the trade-off between air quality and energy use.
2Reliability
If the ventilation rate is set high to maximize contaminate reduction, then indoor air quality is improved, but the HVAC system may lack the heating and cooling capacity to maintain occupant comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from sensors monitoring indoor temperature, humidity, occupancy, and outdoor conditions to continuously adjust the ventilation rate. This feedback loop ensures that ventilation increases do not compromise thermal comfort, as the system responds to actual building conditions and HVAC performance in real-time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary assessments of HVAC capacity and building thermal characteristics using learned models before determining the optimal ventilation rate. This allows the system to predict whether increased ventilation will compromise comfort and adjust accordingly, preventing capacity overload before it occurs.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the ventilation rate is minimized to reduce energy costs, then energy consumption is reduced, but the building may not be adequately ventilated given current or expected contaminates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses learned models of building dynamics and contaminate generation to autonomously determine the minimum ventilation rate required to maintain air quality. This self-service capability allows the system to optimize energy consumption while ensuring adequate ventilation based on predicted occupancy and contaminate sources, without requiring constant manual adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial ventilation increases only when and where needed based on learned patterns of contaminate generation and building response. Rather than uniformly increasing ventilation throughout the building, the system targets specific zones or times when air quality requirements dictate, minimizing unnecessary energy consumption while maintaining adequate ventilation.
Data Source
AI summary
Appropriate ventilation for a building space while maintaining building comfort includes tracking one or more interior environmental conditions within the building space and one or more exterior environmental conditions outside of the building space during operation of the HVAC system. An environmental model for the building space is learned over time based at least in part on these tracked environmental conditions, where the environmental model predicts an environmental response of the building space to operation of the HVAC system under various interior and exterior environmental conditions. An appropriate ventilation rate that maintains adherence to one or more comfort parameters of the building space is determined by using the environmental model of the building space. The outdoor air ventilation damper of the HVAC system is controlled to provide appropriate ventilation.