Integration of low level controller constraints in supervisory control of buildings
Résumé
Model Predictive Control (MPC) has been widely used and proved efficient in the control ofbuilding installations. It is particularly efficient in the supervisory control of equipment sinceit can integrate economic, social and environmental dimensions in the computation of thecontrol input. In practice, these equipment possess their own devoted and integrated controllers,which include power saturations and operating modes. Therefore, equipment's inputs cannot bedirectly controlled by supervisory controllers. This paper aims at analysing to what extent MPCcontrollers can incorporate existing integrated controllers without introducing extra complexityto their strategies. A Proportional-Integral (PI) controller, with an anti-windup mechanism, hasbeen implemented as the so-called integrated controller. A proposed MPC strategy is discussed.Despite the hybrid functioning of the PI controller, it maintains the simplicity of the problemsolving. Furthermore, a comparison between the performances of a benchmark MPC controller(which would drive directly an equipment possessing no integrated controller) and the developedMPC controller is presented. For this study, an office building is targeted and the heating issuehas been addressed.