Automation in Construction 10 2001.

487505
www.elsevier.comrlocaterautcon

Dynamic and real-time simulation of BMS and air-conditioning

system as a living environment for learningrtraining
Shengwei Wang ) , Ling Zheng
Department of Building Serices Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic Uniersity, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China
Accepted 5 July 2000

Abstract
Dynamic and real-time simulation models are developed to simulate the thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, environmental
and energy performance of building a variable air volume VAV. air-conditioning system and its building management
system BMS.. On-line direct digital control DDC. and supervisory strategies of the BMS controlling the dynamic
air-conditioning system are simulated. A window-based users interface is developed to simulate the manmachine interface
of a BMS, through which users can monitor the on-line operation, tune the local control loops, and reset the supervisory
control strategies. This paper presents models, simulation software, and examples that users practice on the simulated on-line
BMS and air-conditioning system using the software. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Building management system; Control strategy; Dynamic simulation; Energy; Indoor environment; Learning; Optimal control

1. Introduction
Building management systems BMS. have become an essential part of a modern building that
contributes significant saving potential and function
feasibility. However, the actual achievement of BMS
relies on well-developed and commissioned BMS
hardware and software, well-trained BMS users, and
system designers of adequate knowledge and experience on BMS and dynamic performance of HVAC
systems. Practices show that the lack of knowledge
and experience on BMS andror self-confidence of

)
Corresponding author. Tel.: q852-2766-5858; fax: q8522774-6146.
E-mail address: beswwang@polyu.edu.hk S. Wang..

the users as well as the designers is one of the key

issues affecting the successful application of BMS
and acceptance of BMS in the engineering society.
A modern BMS integrated with an air-conditioning system is a large-scale dynamic system. On-line
and practical experiment or test is the best way to
learn the BMS operational characteristics, air-conditioning system dynamics and their inter-reaction during on-line operation. To play on the real BMS
systems working in real buildings might be obviously the best way for practicing. However, many
limitations and constraints might make this inconvenient or impossible. For instance, a building owner
will not allow an inexperienced person to play on a
BMS for practicing and learning.
Dynamic simulation of HVAC and BMS system
provides a convenient and low cost tool in testing,
commissioning, and evaluating control strategies or

0926-5805r01r$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 6 - 5 8 0 5 0 0 . 0 0 0 8 5 - 6

488

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

Nomenclature
A
Area m2 .
C
CO 2 concentration ppm.
c, c p
Specific heat, specific heat of air kJrkg P K.
C2
Pollutant concentration ppm.
CS
Strength of CO 2 source 10y6 m3rs.
DP
Differential pressure Pa.
G
Humidity kgrkg.
GS
Strength of humidity source kgrs.
H
Damper position 01.
h
Convection coefficient kWrm3 K.
M
Mass of air kg.
m
mass flow rate kgrs.
N
Number of occupants
P
Pressure Pa.
PS
Strength of pollutant source 10y6 m3rs.
Q
Heat load kW.
R
Heat resistance KrkW.
T
Temperature K.
V
Volume m3 .

Volume flow rate m3rs.

ra
Specific mass of air kgrm3 .
Subscripts and superscripts
abs
Absorbed
amb
Ambient
cav
CAV
exf
Exfiltration
exh
Exhaust
fh
Outdoor air
fut
Furniture
inf
Infiltration
leak
Leakage
out
Outside
P
Occupants
R
Room or space.
rtn
Return air
s
Supply air
SA
ASol-AirB
vav
VAV
wi
Wall inside
win
Window
zone
Occupied zone

the control programs implemented in BMS w14x. It

also makes possible for the operators and students to

play with the BMS under on-line control and to learn

the BMS on-line control and air-conditioning system

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

dynamic performance in a simulated living environment.

When the on-line control performance of supervisory and local control strategies are concerned, the
realistic characteristics of air flowpressure balance
needs to be incorporated into the system simulation
w5x, in order to test, evaluate and commission the
strategies under simulated real-life conditions. The
environmental behaviour of the system also needs to
be incorporated into the system simulation due to the
increasing concern on the effects of control strategies
on indoor environment. The simulation test of on-line
supervisory strategies implemented in integrated direct digital control DDC. stations of BMS also
requires the simulation of the integrated variable air
volume VAV. system of large scale.
In the simulation software developed, dynamic
models of building and VAV air-conditioning system, which incorporate the thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, environmental i.e. CO 2 and pollutant. and
energy performance, are developed to simulate the
system controlled by strategies implemented in BMS
using a model-based program. Realistic simulation
models of the air-handling unit AHU. supply air
temperature, static pressure, outdoor air flow, pres-

489

sure-independent VAV terminal, return fan local

control loops are developed. On-line control strategies for optimising the VAV static pressure set-point,
AHU outlet air temperature set-point and the outdoor
ventilation air flow set-point are developed. The
realistic models of VAV system local DDC controls
and the supervisory control strategies implemented
in the integrated digital stations of BMS are integrated with the air-conditioning system in the simulation software. Tuning of control loops and change
on the set-points or supervisor strategies can be
made on-line or off-line by the users through the
user interface. The instantaneous responses of the
system are presented by various windows of the
software. The historical data of the variables are
stored for on-line inspection and off-line analysis.

2. Simulation software structure

Two major tasks of the simulation software,
namely BMSonline w6x, are the simulation of the
air-conditioning system, including its on-line controls, and the interface facilitating the on-line dialogue between the user and the simulated control

Fig. 1. Software structure of BMSonline.

490

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

systems. The software is composed of three parts

Fig. 1.: dynamic and real-time simulation of airconditioning system and its BMS, window-based
graphic user interface and the communication models for the on-line data exchange between the system
simulation and the user interface.
The dynamic simulation is core of the software,
which is developed on TRNSYS as the platform. A
window-based graphic user interface is developed
using Visual Basic, which simulates the user interface of a BMS and provides a convenient way for
the user to monitor the BMS and air-conditioning
system. It contains several windows and allows users
to tune the controls and modify the control strategies
on-line and off-line. The responses of the VAV and
control to the changes of the control settings and
strategies are shown on the windows. The only
action that a user should make is to click the button
labelled controllers and key in the values that you
want to try. The controllers use the new settings
immediately after a modification is confirmed. Users
use this software just like hershe is facing a monitoring central. station of a real BMS controlling a
real VAV system.
The communication models facilitate the on-line
data exchange between the system simulation and
the user interface. Since the system simulation package and the interface use different programming
languages and are running in different environment,
shared databases are used for the data exchange. In
TRNSYS, a model is used to assess the shared
databases including the data exchanges in two directions at each simulation time step. The parameters of
the control strategies, which can be tuned on-line,
are specified as the inputs rather than the parameters. of the models. The routines in Visual Basic
program for assessing the shared databases are written in timer objets to control the speed of the program execution.

3. Modelling of VAV air-conditioning system and

BMS
3.1. Building and VAV system
The simulated VAV air-conditioning system
serves an open plan office of 1166 m2 , which is half

of a floor in a building. One AHU is used to serve

the open plan office. The perimeter zones orientating
north are equipped with CAV terminals beside VAV
terminals, and the others are equipped with VAV
terminal only. The air-conditioning system and the
associated building are simulated to test the control,
energy, and environmental performances of the airconditioning system under the on-line control of
BMS.
The office area is divided into eight zones when
simulating the office floor. Six of the zones are
perimeter zones and the other two are interior zones.
A schematic of the air-conditioning system serving
the office is presented in Fig. 2. The chilled water
flow rates of the cooling coils are modulated to
control the coil outlet air temperature. Two axial fans
of variable blade angle are equipped as VAV supply
fan and return fan, respectively. The CAV supply fan
is a constant fan. The pitch angle of the VAV supply
fan is modulated to control the supply air static
pressure. The return fan is controlled to control the
exfiltration flow rate in order to maintain positive
pressure in the building. It is achieved by controlling
the difference between the total supply and return air
flow rates within the upper and lower limits by
modulating the pitch angle of the return fan.
3.2. Building model
A simplified building model simulates the dynamic balance of energy, moisture, CO 2 and a pollutant, which is suitable for testing the control, energy,
and environmental performances of on-line local and
supervisory control strategies w5x. It is further developed on the basis of the concept of the building
model developed in the IEA Annex 17 w7x. The
modelling of CO 2 and second pollutant aims at
simulating the occupant and non-occupant generated
pollutants.
The model represents the open plan office by a
network of thermal resistance, thermal capacitance,
and air volume. Each space is considered as a node
of well-mixed air volume with uniform temperature,
moisture, CO 2 and pollutant concentration. The connections between zones are the air mass exchanges
caused by air flow. The external wall of each zone is
represented by a node of thermal capacitance and

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

491

Fig. 2. Illustration of air-conditioning system, AHU local DDC control loops, and outdoor air flow supervisory strategy.

resistance linking the zone with outside. The external

walls of a zone are categorised to be heavy wall and
light wall. An external wall is considered to be a
heavy wall when the thermal capacitance is relatively large and affects the heat transfer to the zone
significantly. Otherwise, it is considered to be a light
wall. The thermal capacitance of the heavy external
walls is represented by a thermal capacitance, while
the thermal capacitance of the light external wall is
neglected and only their resistance is considered. The
internal structure and furniture in each zone are
represented by a node of thermal capacitance connected to the zone through a thermal resistance. The
model uses a simplified method to compute the heat
load of solar radiation absorbed by the external walls
by means of an equivalent sol-air temperature which
is modified from the conventional definition of the
sol-air temperature w5x.
Each zone node employs four ordinary differential
equations describing the balance of energy, moisture,
CO 2 and non-occupant generated pollutant. The dy-

namic balances of an occupied zone i i s 1, 2, . . . ,

8. are shown in Eqs. 1. 4.. Since the occupied
zones fully use double layer glass as external wall
with relative low thermal capacitance, only the resistance is considered in the model and the thermal
capacitance is neglected. The external wall of the
plenum employed concrete structure. Both thermal
capacitance and resistance are considered.
Mi c p

dTi
dt

s Q i q m vav ,i c p Tvav y Ti .
q m cav ,i c p Tcav y Ti .
q m inf ,i c p Tamb y Ti .
y m exf ,i c p Ti q m i j c p Tj y Ti .
j

Tw ,i y Ti
R wi ,i

Tfut ,i y Ti
R fut ,i

Tsa ,i y Ti
R win ,i

1.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

492

Mi

dGi
dt

s GS i q m vav ,i Gvav y Gi .
q m cav ,i Gcav y Gi . q m inf ,i Gamb y Gi .
y m exf ,i Gi q m i j Gj y Gi .

2.

Vi

dCi
dt

s CS i q vav ,i C vav y Ci . q cav ,i Ccav y Ci .

q inf ,i Camb y Ci . y exf ,i Ci
q i j C j y C i .

3.

Vi

dC2 i
dt

s PS i q vav ,i C2 vav y C2 i .
q cav ,i C2 cav y C2 i .
q inf ,i C2 amb y C2 i . y exf ,i C2 i
q i j C2 j y C2 i .

4.

3.3. System pressureflow balance

A model is developed to simulate the pressure
flow balance of the building and air-conditioning
system as illustrated in Fig. 3. The flow resistances

of the VAV and CAV filters and cooling coils are

considered to be constant. The constant flow resistance before VAV pressure sensor represents the
resistance of the air attenuator and duct before the
sensor. The resistance of the air duct after the VAV
pressure sensor is considered to be constant. The
constant CAV duct flow resistance represents the
flow resistance of the CAV air attenuator and duct.
The flow resistances of the CAV terminals and
diffusers are considered to be constant. The resistances of VAV terminals and diffusers are variables,
which depend on the positions of the VAV dampers.
The pressure in the entire occupied space is considered to be uniform when simulating the system
pressureflow balance. The air leakage through the
building envelope is computed by assuming a constant flow resistance linking the occupied space to
the outside. The flow resistance of return duct is
considered to be constant. The resistances of the
outdoor, recycle, and exhaust air dampers vary according to the positions of the dampers.
The static pressureflow characteristics of the
VAV supply fan, CAV supply fan, and return fan are

Fig. 3. Schematic of system pressureflow balance model.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

simulated by separate models. The pressureflow

balance computation is based on the air mass conservation and pressure balance.
One single component model is used in the study
to simulate the system pressureflow balance in
order to avoid the problems of convergence. Providing the resistance of the system components, duct,
damper and the delivery static pressure head of three
fans, the system pressureflow balance model computes the flow rates and pressure at different locations of the system. When simulating the pressure
flow balance at each simulation step, iteration of
delivery pressure heads of the three fans and air flow
rates through the fans takes place until they are
converged. The damper models and control models
are not involved in the iteration of system pressure
flow balance computation at current simulation step.
The controllers will update the control according to
the change of the controlled pressure and flow rates,
which affect the pressureflow balance of following
steps rather than that at the current step.

3.4. Fan models

To simulate an axial fan, the state of the fan is
represented by three normalised variables w , j , l.
w8x representing the air volume flow rate, fan total
pressure rise, and fan absorbed power, respectively
as shown in Eqs. 5., 6., and 7..

ws

js

4a
2

p D N
2 PTfan

ra p DN .
ls

800Wfan
4

p D N ra

and motor hfan , hmot ., which are affected by the fan

power.
n1

js

ls

m1

C1 i , j . w iu j
is0

js0

n2

m2

is0

DPfan s PTfan y Pnom

Wmot s

8.

air

9.
2

/
nom

Wfan

10 .
11 .

hfanhmot

3.5. Cooling coil

A dynamic model is developed to simulate the
cooling coil w4,5x. The model includes a steady-state
approach and a dynamic approach. A first order
differential equation Eq. 12.. is used to represent
the dynamics of a coil with lumped thermal mass.
The dynamic equation on the basis of energy balance
ensures that the energy is conserved. The air and
water temperatures at the outlet ta,ex , t w,ex . therefore
can be computed by the heat balances of both sides
as shown in Eqs. 13. and 14..
d tc

ta ,in y t c

Cc

6.

ta ,ex s ta ,in y

The fan performance law is fitted by a polynomial of

two variables of normalised air flow rate w . and fan
pitch angle u . as Eqs. 8. and 9.. The steady-state
pressure rise of the fan is obtained from the fan total
pressure rise using Eq. 10.. The fan motor power
input Wmot ., using Eq. 11., is obtained from the fan
absorbed power Wfan . and the efficiencies of the fan

/
/

C2 i , j . w iu j

js0

5.

7.

493

dt

t c y t w ,in

R1

R2

SHR ta ,in y t c .

t w ,ex s t w ,in y

R 1Ca
t c y t w ,in
R 2 Cw

12 .

13 .
14 .

The heat transfer calculation applies the classical

number of transfer unit NTU . and heat transfer
effectiveness methods. The classical method to calculate the effect of the fin on the air side thermal
resistance is applied. Two different methods are used
to calculate the heat convection coefficient on the air
side in dry and wet regions, resp15ectively.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

494

In dry regime, the overall heat transfer resistance

R . is computed as follows; where, A is the total
heat transfer surface area, R a , R m , and R w are the
heat transfer resistances of air side convection, coil
metal, and water side convection, Nrow is the number
of rows.
NTU s

UA
Cmin

s f Nrow ,

Rs

A
s
Cmin R a q R m q R w .
Cmin
Cmax

Ta ,in y Tw ,in
Q

, NTU

1
s

Cmin

15 .
16 .
17 .

In wet regime, a fictitious air flow is assumed, which

has a specific heat equal to the average saturation
specific heat cs , specific heat of saturation moisture
air at the average temperature of air inlet wet bulb
temperature and water inlet temperature..
3.6. DDC controller, sensor, actuator and duct models
A ArealisticB controller model is developed to
simulate the digital controllers. The model represents
the following functions of the EMCS: DDC functions, discrete-time operation of digital controllers,
and supervisory control strategies.
The time scheduling of a sampling cycle is considered to be of four steps: process variable sampling, control outputs computation, control signal
output, and waiting time for the next sampling cycle.
The PID control function used in DDC loops uses
the ISA algorithm. Its discrete form is used in the
models.
The actuator model is used to represent the characteristics of actuators w9x. The actuator is assumed
to accelerate very quickly and then turn at constant
speed. A minimum change e.g. the sensitivity of the
actuator defined as a parameter of the model. in
demanded position is required to restart the actuator.
The model includes the hysteresis in the linkage
between actuators and valves or dampers. If a valve
stem is driven by a rotary actuator, the speed of the
valve stem varies with the position of the crank.

The dynamics sensor model is used to simulate

the temperature, pressure, flow and CO 2 sensors
using the time constant method. Different time constants are used for different sensors depending on the
characteristics of the sensors and the measured variables and the locations of the sensors.
A duct model is developed to simulate the heat
loss through duct wall, dynamic effects of the duct
wall, and the effects of transfer delay on temperature, moisture, CO 2 and the pollutant. A duct is
divided into a number of sections considering the
duct length and the velocity range of the air flowing
inside. The process of the air flowing in the duct at a
simulation step is assumed consisting of three separate Asub-processesB: moving of the air segments;
mixing of air within individual sections; and a dynamic heat exchange with the outside through the
duct wall.
3.7. Real-time control of simulation
Since the speed of the system variable changes
and control loop responses are essential for the users
playing in the simulated learning environment, the
simulation of the VAV system and BMS should be
performed in real time or accelerated with certain
given acceleration factor.
Simulation is carried out in discrete steps in time.
To achieve simulation in real time or in certain
accelerated speed, a waiting phase is specified to
slow down the simulation speed to real time or the
accelerated speed specified. When the tasks of complete the computation and communication of a step
have been completed, the computer begins to check
its clock at frequent intervals until the time for
starting the next step exceeded. When the acceleration is implemented in a test, the total clock time of a
step is the length of the length of the simulation step
divided by the acceleration factor.

4. BMS on-line control strategies

4.1. Local DDC controls
Fig. 2 illustrates the control of the AHU. Two
DDC controllers control the air temperatures at the

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

495

4.2. Optimal outdoor air flow control

Fig. 4. Illustration of pressure independent VAV air flow control.

outlet of the VAV and CAV coils by modulating the

chilled water flow rate through the coils, respectively. The static pressure controller maintains the
static pressure at the VAV supply duct at its set-point
by modulating the fan pitch angle of the VAV
supply fan. The exfiltration flow controller controls
the difference between the total supply and return air
flow rates in order to maintain a positive pressure in
the building by modulating the pitch angle of the
return fan. The outdoor air controller controls the
outdoor air flow rate by modulating the air dampers
of the AHU.
The zone space temperature control employs the
pressure independent VAV terminal box Fig. 4..
The zone temperature controller maintains the space
temperature by regulating the flow set-point. The
VAV air flow controller controls the flow rate at its
set-point by modulating the VAV damper position.
The PID control is used in the local DDC controllers.

Supervisory control of outdoor air flow is achieved

by making a compromise among two control strategies, i.e. combining the enthalpy control and demanded ventilation Fig. 5.. The outdoor air flow
set-point determined by an occupancy-based demanded ventilation control strategy is used to be the
low limit for outdoor air control only. The enthalpy
control strategy determines an optimal outdoor air
flow set-point based on the enthalpy values of outdoor air and return air, total supply air flow rate, and
AHU supply air temperature set-point. The enthalpy
control strategy aims at minimising the coil consumption.
An occupancy-based demanded ventilation strategy w10x is developed to meet the requirement of the
ASHRAE standard 62-1999 w11x on the outdoor air
flow. An on-line dynamic strategy is developed to
detect the actual occupancy in occupied indoor space.
The occupancy detector detects the actual occupancy
in the space by sampling CO 2 concentrations of
outdoor air and return air. A controller determines
the set-point of outdoor air ventilation flow rate
according to the actual number of occupants in the
indoor space.
4.3. On-line optimal reset of static pressure set-point
This strategy aims at minimising the VAV fan
energy consumption by minimising the static pres-

Fig. 5. Relationship between control signals and outdoor air enthalpy of combined enthalpy and DVC control implemented.

496

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

sure w12,13x. In order to supply sufficient air to every

individual zone as well as to minimise the static
pressure, the static pressure is controlled to be enough
and just enough for the most heavily loaded zones.
The on-line strategy makes use of all the VAV
damper positions represented by relevant VAV
damper position control demands as the indicator of
relative load of the individual VAV terminals associated with one AHU.
The supervisory controller can conveniently collect the local DDC control demands when the AHU
and VAV control stations are integrated in a single
network. The static pressure is adjusted just allowing
the VAV dampers with the highest relative cooling
load among all the VAV terminals to be controlled
very closely to fully open position any time. Thus,
this ensures that all the individual zones are supplied
with sufficient air and the static pressure is controlled at its lowest allowed level.
4.4. AHU supply air temperature set-point reset
The proper resetting of the supply air temperature
allows that the VAV system avoids the poor ventila-

tion and saves as much fan power as possible. A

strategy for on-line reset of the supply air temperature set-point is employed. The strategy utilises the
air flow rate set-points of the pressure independent
VAV damper controllers as the cooling load indicators of individual zones. The minimum flow set-point
is set to avoid performance deficiency w14x in individual zones, which may have different values for
different zones and needs to be selected and tuned
according to actual design and situation of individual
zones.
The upper flow rate set-point is a parameter used
only for calculating the relative load of a zone. Since
different zones may have very different flow range,
the rate of the flow set-point of each zone is normalised using the ratios of the set-point to the minimum flow set-point and upper flow set-point, respectively. The maximum ratio to upper flow set-point
among zones is selected as the indicator of the
relative load of zone with most critical thermal load.
The minimum ratio to minimum flow set-point among
zones indicates most critical zone in terms of ventilation.

Fig. 6. Overall lighting, equipment, and sensible occupancy load at high occupancy load condition.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

5. System simulation and test conditions

TRNSYS A Transient System Simulation Program w15x, developed at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. is used as the platform for the
dynamic simulation of the air-conditioning system
including building zones and BMS. The occupancy,
lighting, and equipment loads in each zone, the solar
gain of each zone transmitted through windows,
sol-air temperature of each zone, the outdoor air
temperature, humidity and CO 2 concentration are
provided by data files during simulation as test conditions. The transmission solar gain and equivalent
sol-air temperature are computed by a pre-processor
prior to simulation according to building construction data; the solar radiation and outdoor air temperature recorded in the selected days.
The overall pollutant generation rate in the space
is selected to be 1.0 = 10y6 m3rs. The CO 2 , moisture, and sensible heat generation rates of an occupant are selected to be 5 = 10y6 m3rs, 1.17 = 10y5
kgrs and 0.065 kW, respectively. The outdoor air
CO 2 concentration is selected to be 360 ppm as a

497

constant. The internal load and occupancy profiles in

the zones remained the same for the strategy evaluation exercises in different seasons. The air-conditioning system worked between 7:15 AM and 7:00 PM.
Three test cases are specified in the software
selected: one cloudy day in summer, one sunny day
in spring, and one sunny day in winter. Two occupancy profiles are specified in the software, which
represents the typical variation of occupancy in offices. One is high and the other is low. The users can
select the weather and occupancy conditions in a
test. The lighting and equipment load profile specified simulates the typical variation of load in offices.
The internal heat load and occupancy profile at high
occupancy condition are shown in Fig. 6. The outdoor air temperature is shown in Fig. 7.
6. User interface and its functions
A window-based graphic user interface is developed to provide a user-friendly environment for the
users similar to that of an advanced BMS. After the
user starts the program, the main menu window will

Fig. 7. Outdoor air dry-bulb temperature on three selected days.

498

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

pop-up, which contains options to define the settings

of controllers, accelerating factor, the weather conditions, occupancy, simulation period and the variables
that the user wants to show. Each of the four items in
the main menu corresponds to a submenu with detailed choices. Most of the options have default
values, such as the settings of controllers and acceleration of simulation. For these settings, the system
uses their default values if a user did not make any
choice.
The default values of the control settings are
suitable values of the controllers. The default acceleration factor of simulation is 10. That means the
simulation process is 10 times faster than the real
time. The user can change the acceleration factor
between 1 and 20. The user can choose the weather
data, occupancy level, and simulation period.
After the selections are made on the main menu, a
submenu is provided to predetermine the settings of
the local controllers and supervisory strategies. The
user may select from default control settings, former
setting used by the user previously from a file saved
by the user or redefined new settings.

Users can tune any of the controllers either before

starting a test off-line tuning. or during a test on-line
tuning.. To tune the controllers off-line before starting a test, users should click the menu ADefine the
settings of controllersB on the main menu, then
choose the ARedefined by userB from the submenu.
The screen will appear like Fig. 8 after a particular
controller is selected by directly clicking the controller on the window.
After a test starts when a user clicks the ARunB
button, the schematics of AHU and its controllers
appear with the instant values of the major AHU
system and control variables as shown in Fig. 9. The
user can shift to the window demonstrating the current operation status of the space control Fig. 10.
and the window demonstrating the curves of the
selected variables. The scales of the figures can be
modified any time. The description of each curve can
be seen when the mouse is moved to the relevant
symbol of a variable. Different colours distinguish
the curves.
A user can click a controller during a test to tune
a controller on-line. The settings of the controller

Fig. 8. Tuning VAV temperature controller settings before a test off-line tuning..

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

Fig. 9. Window demonstrating the current operation status of AHU control.

Fig. 10. Window demonstrating the current operation status of space control.

499

500

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

Fig. 11. Tuning of VAV temperature controller during a test on-line tuning..

Fig. 12. Modify the choice of supervisory control strategy on-line.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

501

Fig. 13. Review of the historical curve of a particular variable.

will be updated immediately after a change has been

confirmed. Fig. 11 shows the windows appeared
when the VAV temperature controller was tuned
on-line. A user can also modify the choice of the
three supervisory strategies on-line. Fig. 12 shows
the window to modify the outdoor air flow control
strategy on-line. There are four options on the window. In the figure, the controller uses only the DVC
strategy to reset the fresh air flow set-point. One can
see in the figure that the input value of the outdoor
air controller is the same as the output of the demanded ventilation controller. The choice of other
two supervisory strategies on-line optimal reset of
static pressure set-point and AHU supply air temperature set-point reset. can be modified on-line as well.
During a test, the user can check the historical
curves of any of the AHU and space control and
system variables if the current value of a variable is
displayed on any of the two windows demonstrating
the current AHU and space control status Figs. 9
and 10.. One can see the historical curve of a

variable by clicking the current value of the variable

on the window. One such example is shown in Fig.
13. It is particularly useful when testing and tuning
the local control loops and supervisory strategies.
At the end of a test, a window named Aenergy
consumptionB will pop-up, showing the main energy
data indicating the overall system performance of the
system controlled by strategies used. The user can
save all the historical data of the variables shown on
the windows and settings of controllers in a test into
files for further analysis or future use. The TRNSYS
simulation program also creates four other data files
containing the historical data of selected variables in
a test after each complete test.

7. Energy and environmental performance

The users can analyse the effects of different
control strategies and settings on the energy and
environmental performance of the air-conditioning

502

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

system using the reported performance data and the

data files stored by the software after each test. The
energy and environmental performance of the system
under a few load conditions using different supervisory control strategies with default settings are compared and presented in the paper.
Seven tests with different control strategies are
conducted under each selected load condition. These
strategies are: AConventionalB constant set-points
for VAV static pressure, AHU supply air temperature, and for outdoor air flow, AAHU Temperature
OptimisationB only supervisory control for AHU
temperature set-point is used, AVAV Pressure OptimisationB only supervisory control for VAV
pressure set-point is used, ADVC OnlyB only
demanded ventilation control is used, AEnthalpy
OnlyB only enthalpy control is used, AOutdoor
Air Flow OptimisationB optimal control for outdoor air flow set-point is used, AOverall Control
OptimisationB three optimal supervisory control
strategies are used together. The overall energy,
comfort, and environmental performance data using
these strategies under load conditions are presented
in Tables 14. An overall COP of chilling system is
assumed to be 2.5 as a constant when calculating the
overall electricity use.

Table 1 shows a comparison of the overall energy

and environmental performance of the system controlled by different supervisory strategies in the
Spring Case. When AHU supply air temperature
set-point was reset, there was 2.5% extra fan consumption due to higher supply air flow rate in very
low load early morning and late afternoon. as a
result of higher supply of air temperature. The saving
of the cooling coil energy consumption was about
2%. The indoor air quality was not affected but the
thermal comfort was improved significantly in early
morning and late afternoon. The optimal reset of
VAV static pressure set-point saved about 9% in fan
energy consumption and had no effect on cooling
coil energy consumption. There was no noticeable
effect on the indoor air quality and thermal comfort.
When the fresh air flow was controlled using demanded ventilation control only, the indoor air quality was noticeably reduced and there were about
1.2% savings in both fan and coil energy consumption. When the fresh air flow was controlled using
enthalpy control only, there was 7.7% saving in
cooling coil energy consumption, but the indoor air
quality in some period was reduced significantly as
indicated by the significant increase of the maximum
CO 2 and pollutant concentrations, although the aver-

Table 1
Summary of energy and environment data of tests in Spring Case high occupancy.
Strategy

Conventional

AHU
temperature
optimisation

VAV
pressure
optimisation

DVC

Enthalpy
control

Outdoor
air flow
optimisation

Overall
control
optimisation

VAV fan consumption kwh.

CAV fan consumption kwh.
Return fan consumption kwh.
Total fan consumption kwh.
Saving %.
VAV coil consumption MJ.
CAV coil consumption MJ.
Total coil consumption MJ.
Saving %.
Overall electricity use kwh.
Saving %.
Average CO 2 ppm.
Maximum CO 2 ppm.
Average pollutant ppm.
Maximum pollutant ppm.
Average PPD %.
Maximum PPD %.

90.32
42.60
67.35
200.28

1799.60
847.09
2646.69

494.35

812.64
987.66
1.39
2.36
5.66
12.6

92.39
42.60
70.23
205.22
y2.47
1792.98
799.02
2592.00
2.07
493.23
0.23
813.12
987.06
1.40
2.35
5.33
7.45

72.54
42.60
67.22
182.37
8.94
1797.03
847.72
2644.76
0.07
476.23
3.67
819.56
987.23
1.36
2.35
5.64
12.3

89.22
42.60
65.97
197.79
1.24
1770.44
845.37
2615.81
1.17
488.44
1.2
860.83
1017.52
1.76
2.94
5.69
13.1

88.94
42.6
67.44
198.98
0.65
1651.86
791.63
2443.49
7.68
470.48
4.83
578.99
1259.01
0.51
2.12
5.67
12.6

90.18
42.60
68.63
201.4
y0.56
1695.94
798.49
2494.43
5.75
478.56
3.19
521.29
916.27
0.38
1.4
5.67
13.9

75.71
42.6
72.12
190.43
4.92
1628.95
712.70
2341.66
11.52
450.61
8.85
519.90
931.02
0.39
1.4
5.34
7.01

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

503

Table 2
Summary of energy and environment data of tests in Spring Case low occupancy.
Strategy

Conventional

AHU
temperature
optimisation

VAV
pressure
optimisation

DVC

Enthalpy
control

Outdoor
air flow
optimisation

Overall
control
optimisation

VAV fan consumption kwh.

CAV fan consumption kwh.
Return fan consumption kwh.
Total fan consumption kwh.
Saving %.
VAV coil consumption MJ.
CAV coil consumption MJ.
Total coil consumption MJ.
Saving %.
Overall electricity use kwh.
Saving %.
Average CO 2 ppm.
Maximum CO 2 ppm.
Average pollutant ppm.
Maximum pollutant ppm.
Average PPD %.
Maximum PPD %.

84.95
42.6
63.17
190.72

1679.38
835.32
2514.69

470.13

582.51
666.46
1.41
2.42
5.67
11.6

86.58
42.6
66.02
195.2
y2.35
1663.57
781.21
2444.78
2.78
466.84
0.7
581.88
666.12
1.40
2.41
5.29
6.8

66.55
42.6
63.07
172.22
9.7
1677.17
835.54
2512.71
0.08
451.41
3.98
582.60
666.62
1.41
2.42
5.65
11.4

83.15
42.6
60.98
186.73
2.09
1630.49
833.59
2464.08
2.01
460.52
2.05
654.37
747.02
2.11
3.16
5.71
12.2

83.51
42.6
62.96
189.08
0.86
1542.98
785.24
2328.23
7.42
447.77
4.76
454.77
778.74
0.46
2.17
5.69
11.6

84.14
42.6
63.50
190.24
0.25
1567.18
790.25
2357.43
6.25
452.18
3.82
457.14
695.62
0.48
1.65
5.68
11.6

68.68
42.6
66.91
178.19
6.57
1495.78
698.42
2194.19
12.75
421.99
10.24
453.07
695.58
0.47
1.65
5.31
6.59

Table 3
Summary of energy and environment data of tests in Summer Case high occupancy.
Strategy

Conventional

AHU
temperature
optimisation

VAV
pressure
optimisation

DVC

Enthalpy
control

Outdoor
air flow
optimisation

Overall
control
optimisation

VAV fan consumption kwh.

CAV fan consumption kwh.
Return fan consumption kwh.
Total fan consumption kwh.
Saving %.
VAV coil consumption MJ.
CAV coil consumption MJ.
Total coil consumption MJ.
Saving %.
Overall electricity use kwh.
Saving %.
Average CO 2 ppm.
Maximum CO 2 ppm.
Average pollutant ppm.
Maximum pollutant ppm.
Average PPD %.
Maximum PPD %.

97.22
42.6
72.03
211.85

2691.18
1216.29
3907.48

646.01

866.28
1062.81
1.62
2.53
5.36
8.79

100.35
42.6
74.85
217.79
y2.8
2707.16
1157.67
3864.83
1.09
647.22
y0.19
866.22
1063.51
1.61
2.53
5.35
8.31

77.16
42.6
71.93
191.7
9.51
2688.49
1217.86
3906.35
0.03
625.74
3.14
867.07
1062.97
1.61
2.52
5.36
8.06

96.89
42.6
71.64
211.13
0.34
2614.4
1181.03
3795.43
2.87
632.85
2.04
872.34
1036.19
1.80
2.98
5.37
8.99

94.49
42.6
69.47
206.56
2.5
2312.78
1076.55
3389.33
13.26
583.15
9.73
1080.37
1340.95
2.81
3.44
5.42
9.14

96.89
42.6
71.65
211.14
0.33
2614.19
1180.91
3795.1
2.88
632.82
2.04
872.99
1035.8
1.81
2.98
5.37
9.00

79.95
42.6
74.33
196.88
7.07
2632.39
1123.96
3756.35
3.87
614.25
4.92
871.94
1036.05
1.80
2.99
5.35
8.25

504

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

Table 4
Summary of energy and environment data of tests in Winter Case high occupancy.
Strategy

VAV fan consumption kwh.

CAV fan consumption kwh.
Return fan consumption kwh.
Total fan consumption kwh.
Saving %.
VAV coil consumption MJ.
CAV coil consumption MJ.
Total coil consumption MJ.
Saving %.
Overall electricity use kwh.
Saving %.
Average CO 2 ppm.
Maximum CO 2 ppm.
Average pollutant ppm.
Maximum pollutant ppm.
Average PPD %.
Maximum PPD %.

Conventional

92.66
0
42.6
135.26
1317.08
0
1317.08

281.60

809.04
1020.43
1.16
1.89
6.13
18.1

AHU
temperature
optimisation

VAV
pressure
optimisation

DVC

Enthalpy
control

Outdoor
air flow
optimisation

Overall
control
optimisation

102.23
0
46.49
148.72
y9.9
1291.73
0
1291.73
1.92
292.24
y3.78
845.43
1053.04
1.28
1.89
5.43
13.4

71.28
0
43.14
114.42
15.41
1258.28
0
1258.28
4.46
254.22
9.72
762.89
948.61
1.01
1.68
6.15
18.2

92.55
0
42.48
135.03
0.17
1338.3
0
1338.3
y1.61
283.73
y0.76
803.32
980.28
1.23
2.16
6.12
17.8

92.78
0
44.16
136.95
y1.2
358.33
0
358.33
72.79
176.76
37.23
518.37
609.16
0.41
1.1
6.35
19.3

70.27
0
44.12
114.39
15.43
353.74
0
353.74
73.14
153.69
45.42
517.61
607.31
0.40
1.05
6.35
19.4

82.75
0
49.04
131.79
2.57
326.18
0
326.18
75.23
168.03
40.33
528.86
718.53
0.55
1.4
5.57
14.7

age CO 2 and pollutant concentrations were significantly reduced as a result of more outdoor air used
most of the time. When optimal control of fresh air
flow was used, there was 5.8% saving in cooling coil
energy consumption and the indoor air quality was
improved significantly as indicated by both the average and maximum CO 2 and pollutant concentrations.
When three optimal control strategies were used in
the control of the system, there was 4.9% saving in
fan energy consumption and 11.5% saving in cooling
coil consumption 8.9% overall electricity saving..
The indoor air quality and thermal comfort were
improved significantly.
In the Spring Case with low occupancy load
Table 2., the overall control optimisation contributed 6.6% saving in fan energy consumption,
12.8% saving in cooling coil energy consumption,
and 10.2% saving in overall electricity consumption.
The indoor air quality was improved significantly
most time of the day and the thermal comfort was
noticeably improved as indicated by the maximum
and average values of PPD.
In the Summer Case with high occupancy load
Table 3., the overall control optimisation contributed 7.1% saving in fan energy consumption,
3.9% saving in cooling coil energy consumption, and

4.9% saving in overall electricity consumption. The

indoor air quality and the thermal comfort were not
affected significantly. The VAV static pressure reset
strategy had the major contribution to the saving in
fan consumption, and the outdoor air flow optimisation had the major contribution to the cooling coil
saving. One can also notice that enthalpy control had
very significant saving in cooling coil energy consumption but it was not acceptable in this case since
the outdoor air ventilation was below the acceptable
limit as indicated by the CO 2 concentration.
In the Winter Case with high occupancy load
Table 4., the overall control optimisation contributed 2.6% saving in fan energy consumption,
75.2% saving in cooling coil energy consumption,
and 40.3% saving in overall electricity consumption.
The indoor air quality was improved significantly
and the thermal comfort was improved noticeably.
The VAV static pressure reset strategy had significant saving in fan energy consumption, which was
counter-balanced by extra consumption of fans as a
result of the supply of air temperature set-point reset
improved the thermal comfort and total ventilation.
The saving in cooling coil consumption was mainly
contributed by the outdoor air flow optimisation, in
which enthalpy control played the main role.

S. Wang, L. Zhengr Automation in Construction 10 (2001) 487505

8. Conclusions
Tests and teachingrlearning practices show that
dynamic system simulation is a convenient and attractive tool for the learning and training purposes of
BMS users and students. They can learn the dynamic
operation characteristics, the energy and environmental performances of air-conditioning system and BMS
supervisory control strategies. The users can get the
direct personal experiences on the control dynamics, environmental and energy performances of airconditioning system, and their on-line control strategies.
The users can get the experience on the tuning of
the local loop controllers, the operation of the supervisory control strategies, the air-conditioning system
dynamics, the effects of the control settings and
strategies on the air-conditioning system control, energy and environmental performance by playing window-based software on the computer. The users get
the experience of operating the BMS in a safe and
relax environment. Such an environment gives great
encouragement to the usersrstudents in learning and
practicing BMS and control strategies.

w2x

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w8x
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w10x

w11x

Acknowledgements

w12x

The work presented in the paper is financially

supported by a university research grant and university learning and teaching development grant.

w13x

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