Building Energy Management Based on Explicit MPC with Hardware in the Loop Simulation

This paper presents an Explicit Model Predictive Control (EMPC) for building HVAC control considering the Time-of-Use (TOU) electricity prices. The main contribution of this paper lies in evaluation studies in a developed Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) platform, which employs the popular Raspberry Pi as physical controller that highlights the benefits of explicit solution of the formulated optimization problem. Case studies validates that EMPC is capable of preheating the room before peak electricity prices arrive compared to the typical 0-1 control logics. This reduces the operational costs of the HVAC systems while meeting desired thermal comfort constraints.