Modelling and flexible predictive control of building space-heating demand in district heating systems

Nadine Aoun (1, 2, 3) , Roland Bavière (2) , Mathieu Vallee (2) , Antoine Aurousseau (2) , Guillaume Sandou (1)

1 L2S - Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes
2 CEA - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives
3 ADEME - Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie

This paper presents and demonstrates, by numerical simulation, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP)-based Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy for space-heating demand in buildings connected to a district heating system. The proposed MPC deals with space-heating demand with extended flexibility. It exploits thermal inertia, inherently present in the building and its heating system, to optimally plan space-heating load in anticipation of weather conditions and energy cost variations. MPC is based on a reliable Reduced-Order Model (ROM). Heating circuit and internal mass are carefully modelled within the ROM structure since these elements can be used for short-term heat storage and therefore play an important role in demand-side management. As for the model parameters identification, training data is restricted to non-intrusive, easily accessible measurements available at the substation level. The model identification approach and control strategy are applied to a well-insulated radiator-heated case-study building simulator developed in Modelica. Results show that the proposed ROM is reliable enough for an MPC application. Compared to conventional weather-compensation control, flexible MILP-based MPC proved to be cost-efficient, while preserving a decent indoor thermal comfort level.

Mots clés: Building thermal dynamic simulation; Lumped capacitance model; Mixed-integer linear program; Model predictive control; Parameters identification; Reduced order building model

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique

Nadine Aoun, Roland Bavière, Mathieu Vallee, Antoine Aurousseau, Guillaume Sandou. Modelling and flexible predictive control of building space-heating demand in district heating systems. Energy, 2019, 188, ⟨10.1016/j.energy.2019.116042⟩. ⟨hal-02861035⟩