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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2024) | Viewed by 6513

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Li Yang

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Guest Editor

College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: green built environment; ecological urban planning; low-carbon building; sustainable regeneration building
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the invention of the first electric furnace in 1861, the HVAC industry has made great progress. In the past, HVAC technology mainly concentrated on adjustment of the surrounding temperature. With the development of techniques, the issue of energy saving has gradually received increasing attention from researchers. Up to now, zero energy building and artificial intelligent (AI) techniques are resulting in new demands being placed on HVAC systems. Renewable energy techniques are beginning to allow HVAC systems to be integrated into zero energy construction. There are also attempts to combine AI equipment with HVAC equipment to realize smart monitor features. On the other hand, some innovative technologies and facilities have arisen from attempts to overcome the disadvantage of HVAC in terms of energy expenditure. Thus, this Special Issue aims to collect advanced research achievements related to advanced techniques of HVAC and other innovation technologies that are used in shaping the thermal environment in buildings.

Topics of interest for publication include but are not limited to:

Smart HVAC technology
HVAC system integrating renewable energy technology
Ecological restoration planning
Ductless HVAC system
Ecological low-carbon planning
Relative HVAC analysis software and algorithm
Virtual reality for HVAC monitoring
Innovation technique for building thermal environment adaptation

Prof. Dr. Li Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

smart HVAC system
renewable energy utilization technique
artificial intelligent HVAC technique
ecological low-carbon planning
zero energy
innovative technique
building thermal environment
energy consumption analysis
energy efficiency

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 8275 KiB

Open AccessArticle

FCH HVAC Honeycomb Ring Network—Transition from Traditional Power Supply Systems in Existing and Revitalized Areas

by Jan Wrana, Wojciech Struzik, Katarzyna Jaromin-Gleń and Piotr Gleń

Energies 2023, 16(24), 7965; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16247965 - 8 Dec 2023

Viewed by 753

Abstract

This paper discusses the application of a new honeycomb FCH HVAC (Free Cooling and Heating System, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) ring network technology that reduces the primary energy consumption in existing infrastructure. The aim of the research is to evaluate the cost-environmental viability of upgrading the technical infrastructure and moving from traditional to newly designed green systems built on renewable energy sources. The results show that the energy capacity stored in groundwater is equivalent to 65% of building demand, resulting in a 60% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to a traditional HVAC system. The solution reduces the consumption of natural resources by using renewable energy sources with horizontal heat exchangers arranged in independent ring configurations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in HVAC Equipment and Thermal Environment for Building)

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28 pages, 4751 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Finite Time Disturbance Observer Based on Air Conditioning System Control Scheme

by Kamal Rsetam, Mohammad Al-Rawi, Ahmed M. Al-Jumaily and Zhenwei Cao

Energies 2023, 16(14), 5337; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145337 - 12 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1168

Abstract

A novel robust finite time disturbance observer (RFTDO) based on an independent output-finite time composite control (FTCC) scheme is proposed for an air conditioning-system temperature and humidity regulation. The variable air volume (VAV) of the system is represented by two first-order mathematical models for the temperature and humidity dynamics. In the temperature loop dynamics, a RFTDO temperature (RFTDO-T) and an FTCC temperature (FTCC-T) are designed to estimate and reject the lumped disturbances of the temperature subsystem. In the humidity loop, a robust output of the FTCC humidity (FTCC-H) and RFTDO humidity (RFTDO-H) are also designed to estimate and reject the lumped disturbances of the humidity subsystem. Based on Lyapunov theory, the stability proof of the two closed-loop controllers and observers is presented. Comparative simulations are carried out to confirm that the proposed controller outperforms conventional methods and offers greater accuracy of temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration, having superior regulation performance in terms of a rapid finite time convergence, an outstanding disturbance rejection property, and better energy consumption. In addition to presenting the comparative simulation results from the control applications on the VAV system, the quantitative values are provided to further confirm the superiority of the proposed controller. In particular, the proposed method exhibits the shortest settling time of, respectively, 15 and 40 min to reach the expected temperature and humidity, whereas other comparative controllers require a longer time to settle down. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in HVAC Equipment and Thermal Environment for Building)

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27 pages, 3535 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Variable Structure-Based Control for Dynamic Temperature Setpoint Regulation in Hospital Extreme Healthcare Zones

by Ali Hamza, Muhammad Uneeb, Iftikhar Ahmad, Komal Saleem and Zunaib Ali

Energies 2023, 16(10), 4223; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16104223 - 20 May 2023

Viewed by 1075

Abstract

In critical healthcare units, such as operation theaters and intensive care units, healthcare workers require specific temperature environments at different stages of an operation, which depends upon the condition of the patient and the requirements of the surgical procedures. Therefore, the need for a dynamically controlled temperature environment and the availability of the required heating/cooling electric power is relatively more necessary for the provision of a better healthcare environment as compared to other commercial and residential buildings, where only comfortable room temperature is required. In order to establish a dynamic temperature zone, a setpoint regulator is required that can control the zone temperature with a fast dynamic response, little overshoot, and a low settling time. Thus, two zone temperature regulators have been proposed in this article, including double integral sliding mode control (DISMC) and integral terminal sliding mode control (ITSMC). A realistic scenario of a hospital operation theater is considered for evaluating their responses and performance to desired temperature setpoints. The performance analysis and superiority of the proposed controllers have been established by comparison with an already installed Johnson temperature controller (JTC) for various time spans and specific environmental conditions that require setpoints based on doctors’ and patients’ desires. The proposed controllers showed minimal overshoot and a fast settling response, making them ideal controllers for operation theater (OT) zone temperature control. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in HVAC Equipment and Thermal Environment for Building)

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17 pages, 6293 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mixed-Mode Ventilation Based on Adjustable Air Velocity for Energy Benefits in Residential Buildings

by Lichen Su, Jinlong Ouyang and Li Yang

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2746; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062746 - 15 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1191

Abstract

Energy efficiency and air quality in residential buildings have aroused intensive interest. Generally speaking, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is widely used to regulate indoor environmental spaces. Meanwhile, mixed-mode ventilation has been proven to reduce energy consumption and introduce fresh air effectively. This study aims to discuss the correlations between air velocity, temperature and indoor thermal comfort and establish corresponding statistical models based on the ASHRAE_db II database and the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). On this basis, the air-velocity adjustment strategy, including determining adjustability and establishing adjustable intervals, is optimized based on support vector machine and envelope curve methods. The results show that the recognition accuracy of the adjustability determination model is over 98%, and the air-velocity adjustable interval in the envelope is increased, facilitating control of mixed-mode ventilation. The case shows that interval adjustment increases the sample points by 18.6% (18.1% above 20 °C and 4.5% above 28 °C). Therefore, further research can be supported on improving thermal comfort by air-velocity adjustment to take advantage of the mixed-mode ventilation mode, which is beneficial to building energy efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in HVAC Equipment and Thermal Environment for Building)

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16 pages, 3979 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pump-Valve Combined Control of a HVAC Chilled Water System Using an Artificial Neural Network Model

by Bo Gao, Ji Ni, Zhongyuan Yuan and Nanyang Yu

Energies 2023, 16(5), 2416; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16052416 - 3 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1517

Abstract

A chilled water system transports cooling functionality from refrigerators to users via heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This paper investigated an optimal control strategy to regulate the volume flow rate of each user branch in a chilled water system, considering the minimum resistance operation to reduce energy consumption. An artificial neural network (ANN) was adopted to establish the nonlinear relationship between the volume flow rate of each user branch, pump frequency, and valve opening of each user branch. An optimal control strategy for a chilled water HVAC system is proposed in this article, according to the pump-valve combined control (PVCC) principle and an ANN model, i.e., pump-valve combined control using an artificial neural network model (PVCC-ANN). A series of tests were conducted to collect data to train the ANN model and analyze the performance of the PVCC-ANN in an experimental chilled water system. The results show that the trained ANN model has good prediction performance. A minimum resistance operation can be achieved to control the volume flow rate of each user branch independently by using the PVCC-ANN model. Moreover, the proposed PVCC-ANN method shows good energy-saving performance in chilled water systems, which can be attributed to the minimum resistance operation. Taking the energy consumption of the pump’s constant frequency operation as the reference, the energy saving rate using the PVCC-ANN is between 14.3% and 58.6% under 10 operating conditions, as reported in this paper. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in HVAC Equipment and Thermal Environment for Building)

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