Using active cooling/heating for 1C1R grey-box model parameter identification in actual environment: A proof-of-concept study

A model predictive control (MPC) has been important method for managing both comfort and energy saving in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) problems. However, recent data-driven models for MPC, relying on extensive training data, pose challenges for practical implementation in real-world thermal environments due to their time-consuming nature. The grey-box approach, utilizing a simple RC model as a thermal environment proxy, is well known for its data efficiency. Nevertheless, numerical instability arising from the multi-collinearity of observed data can degrade the model’s time efficiency. To deal with this issue, we propose and implement a rapid and stable parameter identification method that integrates active cooling-heating within the actual thermal environment. Our method requires only a single day of data to estimate basic RC model parameters, allowing for immediate use of the RC model in MPC as soon as an air conditioner is installed. Practical Application Using a grey-box model for MPC in HVAC systems is efficient, but the multicollinearity problem of observed data undermines its time efficiency. Our method deals with this challenge by enabling immediate model parameter identification with just 1 day’s data, incorporating active cooling-heating. We demonstrate it in an actual thermal environment. The high level of time and data efficiency afforded by our method is particularly beneficial for IoT applications like malfunction detection and adaptive room reparameterization associated with room rearrangement.