Unveiling overlooked aspects of model predictive control for building air conditioning systems

The ongoing research on model predictive control (MPC) for building air conditioning systems predominantly centers on improving the predictive capabilities of system models. In this paper, the impacts of three additional pivotal factors on MPC performance are assessed by examining a generic MPC design for a typical variable air volume (VAV) system that serves large commercial buildings. The three factors encompass the nuanced reformulation of optimization, the judicious relaxation of constraints, and the meticulous tuning of parameters. Detailed case studies with an integrated Modelica and EnergyPlus model of the US Department of Energy's Commercial Reference Building are conducted. The results confirm that the optimization formulation, along with relaxation methods, significantly affects MPC performance in terms of energy savings, zonal thermal comfort level, and computational demand. They also reveal that the impact of the MPC control parameters on the energy savings and thermal comfort may vary by season and can be non-monotonic.