Methods are known for controlling and/or regulating the temperature in rooms or zones in a building. Methods of this type are also advantageously used particularly in buildings that are cooled and heated via the building body, for example via solid concrete elements in floors, ceilings and/or walls. It follows that methods of this type can also be used advantageously for application in a building having thermoactive component systems.
Thermoactive component systems for cooling and heating purposes, so called TABS, come into use in various types of buildings such as, for example, in office buildings, museums, spas, laboratory buildings, training centers, hotels and single-family houses and apartment blocks. With TABS technology, the room temperature is advantageously stabilized by tube batteries installed in floors and ceilings and which are fed with hot water or cooling water, for example. Floors and ceilings made from concrete, for example, are best suited for storing heat or cold. Free cooling with air, for example, is also customary for cooling TABS, the night hours being used in summer for cooling concrete masses via dry or hybrid return coolers, for example. TABS with medium temperatures close to room temperature are basically intended for the use of alternative energies. The TABS technology is also known under the technical terms of component conditioning and concrete core conditioning system.
One potential object is to specify a method that can be generally used to control and regulate the temperature in building rooms or room zones and by which it is possible to achieve a desired comfort in conjunction with low energy use.
The inventors propose a method for regulating a room temperature in a building, that switches over between heating, neutral behavior and cooling as a function of an uncertainty, determined in a construction phase of the building, in a knowledge of internal and external heat gains, the uncertainty in the knowledge of the internal and external heat gains being determined by a lower extraneous heat limit and an upper extraneous heat limit
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
A method proposed here for controlling and/or regulating a room temperature based on a so-called unknown-but-bounded approach with the aid of which uncertainties in the knowledge of internal and external heat gains can be treated. In particular, the temperature profile in a room is influenced by people, equipment, machines, lighting and absorbed solar radiation. The expression heat gain is used here in general and also stands for extraneous heat or heat load.
The method for controlling and/or regulating a room temperature utilizes a determined, and therefore known lower limit {dot over (q)}g,lb of the internal and external heat gains, and a determined and therefore known upper limit {dot over (q)}g,ub of the internal and external heat gains. The difference between the upper limit {dot over (q)}g,ub and the lower limit {dot over (q)}g,lb is the uncertainty in the knowledge of the heat gains.
The lower limit {dot over (q)}g,lb of the internal and external heat gains, and the upper limit {dot over (q)}g,ub of the internal and external heat gains are determined in a construction phase by the planner of a control system. Thus, in said construction phase no average heat gains are assumed, but a lower limit {dot over (q)}g,lb known in advance and an upper limit {dot over (q)}g,ub known in advance are assumed for the internal and external heat gains.
With consideration of the uncertainty in the knowledge of the internal and external heat gains, the procedure in the unknown-but-bounded approach is analogous to a procedure that can be applied with conventional heat curves. Heating and cooling curves are used for heating and cooling. A heat loss through the building carcass is compensated by a heating system with an energy supply {dot over (q)}w>0, for example by supplying water heated up as appropriate. In contrast therewith, overshooting of a maximum permissible room temperature is prevented by dissipating thermal energy {dot over (q)}w<0, for example by supplying appropriately cooled water.
Each figure respectively illustrates the desired inlet temperature value θfSp and the thermal energy {dot over (q)}w supplied or dissipated by a heating system and cooling system, respectively, as a function of the outside air temperature θoa. Also illustrated are states of a recirculating pump and states of heating or cooling as a function of the outside air temperature θoa.
During regulation of inlet temperature as a function of outside temperature, a desired value θf,Sp of the inlet temperature is displaced as a function of the outside air temperature θoa in accordance with a heating curve HK or a cooling curve KK. The following three cases are advantageously distinguished depending on the uncertainty in the knowledge of the internal and external heat gains: low uncertainty {dot over (q)}g,ub−{dot over (q)}g,lb (
A determined comfort band Δθr,Sp is respectively depicted in
The comfort band Δθr,Sp is advantageously determined for each room of a building in a fashion depending on desired comfort. The larger the comfort bands, the more energy can be saved with air conditioning the building, and the better TABS is suited for overall coverage of the building. Because of their inertia, TABS are not capable of covering the overall heat load or cooling load of a building in the event of an excessively small comfort band Δθr,Sp.
When the uncertainty is low, that is to say in the case illustrated in
When a medium uncertainty is present, that is to say in the case illustrated in
Given knowledge of the inlet temperature θf and of a current actuator position, an inlet temperature controller effects the correct action, specifically either heating or cooling, or then switching off heating and cooling. If the inlet temperature θf lies between the heating curve HK and the cooling curve KK, heating and cooling are then switched off, for example by closing heating and cooling valves. As soon as the inlet temperature θf overshoots the cooling curve KK, the inlet temperature controller regulates the inlet temperature θf to the desired inlet temperature value θf,Sp determined by the cooling curve KK, for example by acting on a cooling valve. As soon as the inlet temperature θf undershoots the heating curve HK, the inlet temperature controller regulates the inlet temperature θf to the desired inlet temperature value θf,Sp determined by the heating curve HK, for example by acting on a heating valve.
When a high uncertainty is present, that is to say in the case illustrated in
When the uncertainty set by the upper limit {dot over (q)}g,ub and the lower limit {dot over (q)}g,lb is high, that is to say in the case illustrated in
In order in the case illustrated in
The so-called unknown-but-bounded approach can advantageously also be applied correspondingly in order to consider variations in heat gains in building rooms, particularly on the basis of room location, room characteristics and room use, when the room temperature θr of the building rooms cannot be regulated individually, but via a common inlet, for example.
In
The energy source is water that can be used, for example, for heating and cooling. Depending on requirement, the device 40 for heating the energy source is, for example, a boiler, a heat pump or another known heat generating apparatus, or a combination of known heat generating apparatuses. The device 41 for cooling is, for example, a cooling tower, a refrigerating machine or another refrigerating apparatus, or a combination of known refrigerating apparatuses.
The outside air temperature θoa can be detected with the aid of a first temperature sensor 52 connected to the controller 49, and the inlet temperature θf can be detected with the aid of a second temperature sensor 53 connected to the controller 49.
When the uncertainty is low (
When a medium uncertainty is present (
With knowledge of the inlet temperature θf and of a current actuator position, the controller 49 effects the correct action, specifically by the heating, or cooling or then shutting down heating and cooling. If the inlet temperature θf lies between the heating curve HK and the cooling curve KK, the heating valve 50 and the cooling valve 51 are closed. As soon as the inlet temperature θf overshoots the cooling curve KK, the controller 49 regulates the inlet temperature θf to the desired inlet temperature θf,Sp, determined by the cooling curve KK, by acting on the cooling valve 51. As soon as the inlet temperature θf undershoots the heating curve HK, the controller 49 regulates the inlet temperature θf to the desired inlet temperature value θf,Sp, determined by the heating curve HK, by acting on the heating valve 50.
At least one additional item of information is supplied to the controller 49 so that the latter can keep the room temperature θr in the comfort band Δθr,Sp even given high uncertainty {dot over (q)}g,ub−{dot over (q)}g,lb in the knowledge of the internal and external heat gains. The additional information is, for example, the room temperature θr1, measured by a third temperature sensor 55, of the first room 42, the room temperature θr2, measured by a fourth temperature sensor 56, of the second room 43, the return temperature θrt measured by a fifth temperature sensor 57, or the temperature θc of the building body measured by a sixth temperature sensor 58 in the TABS unit 44.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention covered by the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
This application is based on and hereby claims priority to U.S. Application No. 60/726,109, filed on Oct. 14, 2005 and PCT Application No. PCT/EP2006/066717, filed on Sep. 25, 2006, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2006/066717 | 9/25/2006 | WO | 00 | 4/14/2008 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60726109 | Oct 2005 | US |