Risk-based online robust optimal control of air-conditioning systems for buildings requiring strict humidity control considering measurement uncertainties

The total floor area and energy consumption of buildings or spaces requiring strict temperature and humidity control have been growing rapidly worldwide. A major challenge for achieving energy-efficient control of air-conditioning systems in such applications is the measurement uncertainties underlying the systems’ online optimal control decisions under ever-changing working conditions. This paper proposes a risk-based online robust optimal control strategy for multi-zone air-conditioning systems considering component performance degradation and measurement uncertainties. A risk-based online control decision scheme, as the core of the strategy, is developed for decision-making by compromising the failure risks and energy benefits of different control modes considering uncertainties in the information used. The proposed strategy is tested and implemented in a simulation platform based on an existing pharmaceutical industrial building. The results show that the proposed strategy made the optimal online control decisions, allowing for the measurement uncertainties. Compared with a commonly used control strategy, the proposed strategy achieved approximately 20% overall energy saving in the test period.