Control of temperature and energy consumption in buildings - a review.

Abstract

Building sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the world and currently it utilizes 40% of the total energy in the European Union. At the beginning of the article, energy crisis related to the buildings is defined with regard to occupant thermal comfort, energy savings and temperature control. Subsequently, a brief presentation of various types of building heating models available for control purposes is given. Afterward, different approaches used for controlling the building thermal comfort and the energy consumption are shown. These strategies are primarily, classical control, advanced control, intelligent control and hybrid control. The proposed survey also provides up-to-date applications of control techniques. The overview hence affords an insight into current control systems used for temperature and energy consumption in buildings. Further, it helps to have a comprehensive understanding about the variety of control techniques in the field of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning) applications, at the same time delivering information for careful design of suitable controllers.