Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm

Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054

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Energy and Buildings
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Double cooling coil model for non-linear HVAC system using RLF method
Raad Z. Homod
a
, Khairul Salleh Mohamed Sahari
a,
, Haider A.F. Almurib
b
, Farrukh Haz Nagi
a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tenaga Nasional, Km7 Jalan Kajang-Puchong, 43009 Kajang, Malaysia
b
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, The University of NottinghamMalaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 August 2010
Received in revised form19 March 2011
Accepted 22 March 2011
Keywords:
Building model
HVAC system
RLF method
Energy control
a b s t r a c t
The purpose of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system is to provide and maintain a
comfortable indoor temperature and humidity. The objective of this work is to model building structure,
including equipments of HVAC system. The hybrid HVAC model is built with physical and empirical
functions of thermal inertia quantity. Physical laws are used to build the sub-model for subsystems that
have low thermal inertia while the empirical method is used to build the sub-model for subsystems
with high thermal inertia. The residential load factor (RLF) is modeled by residential heat balance (RHB).
RLF is required to calculate a cooling/heating load depending upon the indoor/outdoor temperature. The
transparency, functionality of indoor/outdoor temperatures and simplicity of RLF makes it suitable for
modeling. Furthermore, the parameters of the model can be calculated differently from room to room and
are appropriate for variable air volume (VAV) factor. Nowadays, a VAV system is universally accepted as
means of achieving both energy efciency and comfortable building environment. Inthis research work, a
pre-cooling coil is added to humidify the incoming air, which controls the humidity more efciently inside
conditioned space. The model presented here is veried with both theoretical and numerical methods.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The pioneering simulation work of Stephenson and Mitalas [1]
on the response factor method signicantly improved the modeling
of transient heat transfer through the opaque fabric and the heat
transfer between internal surfaces and the roomair. The heat bal-
ance approaches were introduced in the 1970s [2] to enable a more
rigorous treatment of building loads. Rather than utilizing weight-
ing factors to characterize the thermal response of the roomair due
to solar incident, internal gains, and heat transfer through the fab-
ric, instead, the heat balance methodology solves heat balances for
the roomair and at the surfaces of fabric components.
Since its rst prototype was developed over two decades ago,
the building model simulation systemhas been in a constant state
of evolution and renewal. Numerical discretization and simulta-
neous solution techniques were developed as a higher-resolution
alternative to the response factor methods [3]. Essentially, this
approach extends the concept of the heat balance methodology to
all relevant building and plant components. More complex and rig-
orous methods for modeling HVAC systems were introduced in the
1980s. Transient models and more fundamental approaches were
developed[4] as alternatives tothe traditional approachwhichper-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 3 89212020.

E-mail addresses: Khairuls@uniten.edu.my (K.S.M. Sahari),
haider.abbas@nottingham.edu.my (H.A.F. Almurib).
formed mass and energy balances on pre-congured templates of
common HVAC systems. The delivery of training and the produc-
tion of learning materials [5] are also receiving increased attention.
Additionally, many validation exercises have been conducted [6]
and test procedures developed [7] to assess, improve, and demon-
strate the integrity of simulation tools.
Up to now, many modeling approaches have been available
and the techniques have become quite mature. However, only
two extreme modeling approaches can be generalized. The rst
approach, called physical models, builds up models entirely based
on universal laws, physical laws and principles [8]. The second
approach, calledempirical models, constructs models entirely based
on experiments or data [911].
This study adopted both methods, by employed energy and
mass conservation law to obtain the overall model of the system.
However, to do that for such a system with various thermal iner-
tia subsystems, care must be given to the heat storage capacity
of the subsystem and its relation to the difference in temperature
(input and output temperatures of control volume) and the differ-
ence in the humidity ratio. If heat storage is a function of these two
properties only, then we can apply physical laws directly. This is
applied to HVAC equipment, usually with lowthermal capacitance.
However, if it is related to other factors in addition to those two
properties, the empirical laws must be applied, andthis case always
with high thermal inertia subsystem. These methods are applied to
building structures (walls, windows, slab oors, ceiling and roofs)
to calculate heating and cooling loads. There are many methods
0378-7788/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.03.023
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2044 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
Nomenclature

E energy, J/s
M mass, kg
m mass owrate, kg/s
T temperature,

C
humidity ratio, kg
w
/kg
da

Q cooling/heating load, W
CF surface cooling factor, W/m
2
OF
t
, OF
b
, OF
r
opaque-surface cooling factors
DR cooling daily range, K
PXI peak exterior irradiance, W/m
2
SHGC solar heat gain coefcient
D
oh
depth of overhang, m
X
oh
vertical distance from top of fenestration to over-
hang, m
F
cl
shade fraction closed (0 to 1)
IDF inltration driving force, L/(xcm
2
)
R thermal resistance,

C/W
IAC interior shading attenuation coefcient
FF
s
fenestration solar load factor
E
t
, E
d
, ED peak total, diffuse, and direct irradiance, W/m
2
T
X
transmission of exterior attachment
F
shd
fraction of fenestration shaded by overhangs or ns
L site latitude,

N
exposure (surface azimuth),

fromsouth
SLF shade line factor
used to calculate the heating and cooling load; these methods have
complicated characteristics due to thermal capacitance variation
for different buildings, which affect the heat storage properties.
Since the heat storage properties depend on ambient temperature,
solar gain incident on the building envelops and internal heat-
ing loads [12], and combination of all these elements producing a
time-varying load or time-varying heat ow with such a variation
causing the complication in cooling and heating load calculation
[13].
Therefore, the building and HVAC systemstructures are includ-
ing both types of high and lowthermal inertia, this paper proposes
the hybridization between the two modeling approaches, physical
and empirical, to arrive at an accurate model of the overall system.
The RLF method was derived by [14,15] from residential heat
balance (RHB), where the RLF method is built by applying several
thousand RHB cooling load results, and using these results to create
RLF by statistical regression technique to nd values for the load
factors. The procedure method of RLF is presented by ASRAE [16].
There are many reasons to adopt this method to build a model:
it is suitable to be applied on the computer process, it can be used
to calculate a cooling and heating load depending on inside and
outside temperature, cooling and heating loads can be calculated
roomby room, and also due to its appropriateness for variable air
volume (VAV) systems. The VAV systemis one of two types of mul-
tiple zone heating and ventilation systems. The second type is the
constant air volume (CAV). VAV systems are becoming very popu-
lar in the last few years because of the signicant energy savings
they provide as compared to the CAVmultiple zone central system.
Furthermore, a VAVscheme can be used to condition occupied part
of a building.
To accommodate humid climates and environments, energy
savings can be achieved by adding a pre-cooling coil. This type of
congurationresults ina considerable amount of energysavingand
it is done by reducing reheating process [17].
2. Model development
HVAC systems can be divided into subsystems where each is
modeled separately and then combined to formthe overall system
model. There are six attributes of the physical space that inu-
ence comfort: lighting, thermal, air humidity, acoustical, physical,
and the psychosocial environment. Of these, only the thermal con-
ditions and air humidity can be directly controlled by the HVAC
system. Therefore, the construction of building models discussed
in this work is based on these two attributes.
The conditioned space temperature represents the principal
part of a thermal building output. To readily model the behavior
of an overall HVAC system under thermal analysis, theory of con-
servation of energy is applied. This is due to the fact that energy
can enter and exit a subsystem control volume by heat transfer
and owing streams of matter, which are dominant in any HVAC
process.
Moisture transfer processes are not only caused by internal gen-
eration processes and air migration from outside but also by the
condition of the air being injected into the zone by an air condi-
tioning system. To monitor the variation of moisture in an air ow,
theory on conservation of mass must be applied to the subsystem
control volume. Based on this, for a control volume concept with a
multi-dimensional owat a multi-inlet and a multi-outlet system,
were applied on HVAC system.
The model of a HVAC systemcan be represented by a large num-
ber of non-linear, partial differential equations. Most of which are
related to moisture owand heat transfer involving partial deriva-
tives of time and space. Solution of a set of these equations is very
difcult and therefore, some simplifying assumptions have to be
made [18]. For analysis purposes, the HVAC systemis divided into
a number of sections, and for each lumped parameter section, the
humidity ratio and the air temperature are assumed to vary only in
the axial directions and linearly with space. Linearizing the partial
differential equations reduces these equations to ordinary linear
differential equations by applying small perturbation and lumped
parameter techniques. In this work, the linearization process is
based on the following assumptions:

The air temperature after heat exchanger is almost equal to the

surface temperature of the heat exchanger and T
h,t
T
os,t
as advo-
cated by Wang et al. [19].

The conditioned space temperature is homogenous (lumped).

No dead time exists between subsystem, i.e. the input of a sub-

systemis the output of the previous one without any delay.

The quantities of thermal inertia are already linearized by the RLF

method.
The proposed model is developed to determine the optimal
response for the indoor temperature and humidity ratio by using
temperature and moisture transmission based on the hybridiza-
tion of physical and empirical methods. The main advantage of this
hybrid model approach is its ability to generate the relationship
between indoor and outdoor variation data like a temperature and
humidity ratio. This approach combines both lowand high thermal
inertia to get the overall systemmodel.
Since a large number of variables are required to describe the
mathematical model of the HVAC system, it is necessary to devise
a systematic convention for naming the variables. Due to this, the
HVAC components are divided into ve subsystems. Fig. 1 shows a
model scheme based on the following subsystems control volume:

Pre-cooling coil

Mixing air chamber

Main cooling coil

Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054 2045
Fig. 1. Representation of subsystemusing control volume concept for prototypical buildings with HVAC system.

Building structure
Opaque surfaces structure
Transparent fenestration surfaces structure
Slab oor structure

Conditioned space
The following subsections describe the modeling of each of the
above subsystems.
2.1. Pre-cooling coil
The conservation of energy is applied to the control volume of
pre-cooling coil as shown in Fig. 2, and the rst law of thermody-
namics can be expressed as follows:
energy accumulation in the metal mass of coil
..
M
He
cp
He
dT
h,t
dt
=
energy absorbed by the coil
..
m
w,t
cp
w
(T
wo
T
win
)
+
sensible energy delivered by air
..
m
o,t
cp
a
(T
o,t
T
os,t
) +
latent energy delivered by air dehumidication
..
m
o,t
(
o,t

os,t
)h
f g
(1)
where M
He
is the mass of heat exchanger (kg), cp
He
is the specic
heat of heat exchanger (J/(kg

C)), m
w,t
is the mass ow rate of
chilled water at time t (kg/s), T
h,t
, T
os,t
, T
o,t
are the temperature of
heat exchanger, out supply air and out air, respectively, at time t
(

C), T
wo
, T
win
are the water out/inheat exchanger temperature (

C),
m
o,t
is the mass owrate of outside air at time t (kg/s).
On the other hand, the variation of humidity ratio in control
volume for pre-cooling coil is calculated by applying mass conser-
Fig. 2. Thermal and moisture variation through pre-heat exchanger.
vation on air owstream. The following can be obtained:
latent energy delivered by air dehumidication
..
m
o,t
(
o,t

os,t
)h
fg
=
energy absorbed by the coil
..
m
w,t
cp
w
(T
wo
T
win
)

sensible energy delivered by air

..
m
o,t
cp
a
(T
o,t
T
os,t
) (2)
Following the procedure presented by Ghiaus et al. [20], the
state space equations can be obtained. The dynamic subsystem
model of the pre-cooling coil is therefore:
x = A
pre
x +B
pre
u
pre
y
pre
= C
pre
x +D
pre
u
pre
(3)
where
x = [ T
os,t

os,t
]
T
, u
pre
= [ m
W
T
o

o
]
T
,
A
pre
=

m
o,t
cp
a
M
He
cp
He

m
o,t
h
f g
M
He
cp
He

m
o,t
cp
a
M
ahe
cp
fg

m
o,t
M
ahe

,
B
pre
=

cp
w
t
w
M
He
cp
He
m
o,t
cp
a
M
He
cp
He
m
o,t
h
f g
M
He
cp
He

cp
w
t
w
M
ahe
h
f g
m
o,t
cp
a
M
ahe
h
f g
m
o,t
M
ahe

,
C
pre
= [ 1 1 ], D
pre
= 0
where M
ahe
is the mass of air in heat exchanger (kg), T
os,t
and
os,t
are the temperature and humidity ratio of out air supplied, respec-
tively.
Acompletedescriptionof thephysical behavior for thetwo main
output components (temperature andhumidity ratioof out air sup-
plied) are obtained by taking the Laplace transformation of both
sides of Eq. (3), assuming zero initial condition to get:
_
T
os
(s)

os
(s)
_
=
_
G
1,1
G
1,2
G
1,3
G
2,1
G
2,2
G
2,3
_
_
m
w
(s)
T
o
(s)

o
(s)
_
(4)
where G
1,1
= cp
w
t
w

2
S/cp
a
m
o
((
1
s 1)(
2
S +1) +1), G
1,2
=

2
S/((
1
s 1)(
2
S +1) 1), G
1,3
=h
fg

2
S/cp
a
((
1
s 1)(
2
S +1) 1),
G
2,1
= cp
w
t
w

2
s/h
fg
m
o
((
2
S +1)(
1
s 1) +1), G
2,2
=cp
a

1
s/h
fg
((
2
S +1)(
1
s 1) 1), G
2,3
=
1
s/((
2
S +1)(
1
s 1) 1),
1
=
M
He
cp
He
/ m
o
cp
a
(time constant, s),
2
= M
ahe
/ m
o
.
2.2. Mixing air chamber
To formulate an overall energy balance for this subsystem, the
energyis transferredwithinthe controlledvolume at a uniformrate
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2046 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
Fig. 3. Thermal and moisture variation through air mixing chamber.
by streams of air as shown in Fig. 3. The time dependent thermal
balance equation can be expressed as follows:
energy accumulation in air mass of mix chamber
..
M
m
cp
a
dT
m,t
dt
=
energy leaving by air out
..
m
m,t
cp
a
T
m,t
+
energy delivered by air in
..
m
os,t
cp
a
T
os,t
+ m
r,t
cp
a
T
r,t
(5)
whereM
m
is themass of air incontrol volumeof mixingair chamber
(kg), cp
a
is the specic heat of moist air (J/(kg

C)), T
m,t
, T
os,t
, T
r,t
is
the Mixing, outside supply and return temperature, respectively,
at time t (

C), m
os,t
, m
r,t
, m
m,t
is the mass ow rate of ventilation,
return and mixing air at time t (kg/s), M
m
cp
a
is the heat capacitance
of air for mixing air chamber (J/

C).
The effectiveness of the humidity ratio can be similarly modeled
to the thermal model by applying the principle of mass conserva-
tion to a control volume of mixing box, which can be expressed
as:
mass accumulation in mixing air chamber
..
dM
m

m
dt
=
mass delivered by air in
..
m
os

os,t
+ m
r

r,t

mass leaving by air out

..
( m
r
+ m
os
)
m,t
(6)
where M
m
is the mass of air in the mixing chamber (kg),
r
,
os
,
and
m
are humidity ratio of return, outdoor supply and mixing,
respectively (kg
w
/kg
air
).
The state space dynamic model of subsystemcan be dened as
x = A
mx
x +B
mx
u
mx
y
mx
= C
mx
x +D
mx
u
mx
(7)
where
x = [ T
m,t

m,t
]
T
, u
mx
[ T
os

os
m
os
m
r
]
T
,
A
mx
=
_
1 0
0
m
r
M
m
_
, B
mx
=

m
os,t
2M
m
0
T
os,t
2M
m
T
r,t
0
m
os
M
m

m,t
M
m

r,t
M
m

,
C
mx
= [ 1 1 ], D
mx
= 0
and y
mx
= [ T
m,t

m,t
]
T
is the output of the subsystem, tempera-
ture and humidity ratio of mixing air.
The procedure for obtaining the relation between the input and
the output (eliminating the states vector x) is similar to the pre-
cooling coil by taking the Laplace transformation of both sides of
Eq. (7) to get:
_
T
m
(s)

m
(s)
_
=
_
G
1,4
G
1,5
G
1,6
G
1,7
G
2,4
G
2,5
G
2,6
G
2,7
_

T
os
(s)

os
(s)
m
os
(s)
m
r
(s)

(8)
where G
1,4
= m
os
/2 m
m
(
ch
S +1), G
1,5
=0, G
1,6
=
os
/2 m
m
(
ch
S +
1), G
1,7
=
r
/ m
m
(
ch
S +1), G
2,4
=0, G
2,5
= m
os
/2 m
m
(
ch
S +1),
G
2,6
=
os
/2 m
m
(
ch
S +1), G
2,7
=
r
(s)/ m
m
(
ch
S +1),
ch
=
M
m
/ m
m
(time constant, s).
2.3. Main cooling coil
The method for obtaining the relation between the input and
the output is similar in the pre-cooling coil where we applied con-
servation of both energy and mass on main cooling coil control
volume. Following the same manner for the pre-cooling coil to get
thermal and moisture dynamic subsystemequations, the following
state space can be derived:
x = A
m
x +B
m
u
m
y
m
= C
m
x +D
m
u
m
(9)
where
x = [ T
s,t

s,t
]
T
, u
m
= [ m
mw
T
m

m
]
T
,
A
m
=

m
m,t
cp
a
M
mHe
cp
He

m
m,t
h
f g
M
mHe
cp
He

m
m,t
cp
a
M
mahe
h
f g

m
m,t
m
mahe

,
B
m
=

cp
w
t
w
M
mHe
cp
He
m
m,t
cp
a
M
mHe
cp
He
m
m,t
h
f g
M
mHe
cp
He

cp
w
t
mw
M
mahe
h
f g
m
m,t
cp
a
M
mahe
h
f g
m
m,t
M
mahe

,
C
m
= [ 1 1 ], D
m
= 0
and y
m
= [ T
s,t

s,t
]
T
is the output of the subsystem, temperature
and humidity ratio of supplied air to conditioned space.
To eliminate the states vector x, we followsimilar method in the
pre-cooling coil by taking Laplace transformation on both sides of
Eq. (9) to get:
_
T
s
(s)

s
(s)
_
=
_
G
1,8
G
1,9
G
1,10
G
2,8
G
2,9
G
2,10
_
_
m
mw
(s)
T
m
(s)

m
(s)
_
(10)
where G
1,8
= cp
w
t
mw

4
S/cp
a
m
m
((
3
s 1)(
4
S +1) +1), G
1,9
=

4
S/((
3
s 1)(
4
S +1) 1), G
1,10
=h
fg

4
S/cp
a
((
3
s 1)(
4
S +1) 1),
G
2,8
= cp
w
t
mw

3
s/h
fg
m
m
((
4
S +1)(
3
s 1) +1), G
2,9
=
cp
a

3
s/h
fg
((
4
S +1)(
3
s 1) 1), G
2,10
=
3
s/((
4
S +1)(
3
s 1) 1),

3
= M
mHe
cp
He
/ m
m
cp
a
(time constant, s),
4
= M
mahe
/ m
m
(time
constant, s), M
mHe
is the mass of main heat exchanger (kg), cp
He
is
the specic heat of heat exchanger (J/(kg

C)), m
mw,t
is the mass
owrate of main cooling coil chilled water at time t (kg/s), T
h,t
, T
s,t
,
T
m,t
are the heat exchanger, supply air and mixing air temperature,
respectively, at time t (

C), T
wo
, T
win
are the water out/in heat
exchanger temperature (

C), (T
wo
T
win
) = t
mw
cooling design
temperature difference (

C).
Most cooling coil models can be utilized only when the coil is
totally dry or totally wet because they are based on the convection
heat transfer coefcient, which is dependent on the nature of the
surface, e.g. Ghiaus et al. [20] and Wang et al. [21] models. On the
other hand, the cooling coil model of this paper is developed based
on the application of mass and energy conservation Balance rules
on the control volume basis. This method is not affected by the
nature of the surface.
2.4. Building structure
The thermal mass of the building structure creates a load lev-
eling or ywheel effect on the instantaneous load. There are three
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054 2047
Fig. 4. Heat transfer by face temperature difference.
factors associated with the heat gain/losses to/frombuilding struc-
ture as a result of outdoor temperature and solar radiation. These
factors are related to opaque surfaces (walls, ceilings, roofs and
doors), transparent fenestration surfaces (windows, skylights and
glazed doors) and slab oors. To create building model structure
with ambiguity of thermal ywheel effectiveness on indoor tem-
perature, we used empirical RLF method.
2.4.1. Opaque surfaces
Heat transfer in opaque surfaces is due to conduction, convec-
tion and radiation. During which a stored heat will uctuate with
time. This is mainly due to two factors: the dramatic change of tem-
perature outside the system, and solar radiation that also change
dramatically during the day. To calculate this thermal capacitance,
we apply the energy conservation law of Eq. (11) on the systems
control volume. The left hand side of the equation represents the
accumulate rate of thermal storage of opaque surfaces while the
right hand side corresponds to the heat that enters and goes out
through the control volume [22,23]:
accumulation of energy
..
M
wl
cp
wl
dT
wl,t
dt
=
difference between in and out of energy
..

Q
opq
in

Q
opq
out
(11)
where, M
wl
cp
wl
is the heat capacitance of walls, ceilings, roofs and
doors (J/K),

i

Q
opq
in
and

i

Q
opq
out
is the heat gains and losses
through walls, ceilings, roofs and doors.
The heat that goes into the control volume (heat gain) of opaque
surfaces such as walls, doors, roofs and ceilings is due to two
aspects: the difference in the inside and outside temperatures of
the surfaces as illustrated in Fig. 4, and the gain of the solar incident
on the surfaces. On the other hand, the heat that goes out the con-
trol volume (heat lose) is due to heat convection to the conditioned
space.
The RLF method is used to calculate heating and cooling loads
based on two factors. One is the area of surface (A
wj
), and the other
is the surface cooling factor (CF
opq
j
) [16]. Thus, the heat entering the
surface or control volume (

Q
opq
in
) can be written mathematically as
follows:

Q
opq
in
=

j
A
w
j
CF
opq
j
(12)
and CF
opq
is dened as:
CF
opq
= U(OF
t
t +OF
b
+OF
r
DR) (13)
where U is the construction U-factor, W/(m
2
K), t is the cooling
design temperature difference (

C), OF
t
, OF
b
, OF
r
are the opaque-
surface cooling factors, and DR is the cooling daily range (K).
Hence

Q
opq
in
=

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
(T
wlou
T
WI
in
) +

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
b
+

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
r
DR (14)
InEq. (11),

Q
opq
out
is the heat transfer due toconvectionintocon-
ditioned space. Following Newtons law of cooling for convection
heat transfer,

Q
out
can be written as:

Q
opq
out
=

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
(T
WI
in
T
r
) (15)
Thus, applying RLF method in the entire building using Eq. (11)
will give us an empirical time dependent heat balance equation as
follows:
M
wl
cp
wl
T
wl
out
,t
T
WI
in
,t
t
=

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
(T
wl
out
,t
T
WI
in
,t
) +

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
b
+

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
r
DR

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
(T
WI
in
,t
T
r,t
) (16)
The implication behind Eq. (16) is that the temperature proles of
the building opaque envelopes are given by the linear combina-
tion of T
wl
out
,t
and T
WI
in
,t
as shown in Fig. 4. For a thin, uniform
construction material, the method gives a good estimation. How-
ever, for a thick, heavy mass material, the equation shows a big
error. One way of modifying Eq. (16) is to introduce more nodes,
for example T
wl
out
,t
, T
1,t
, t
2,t
, . . . , T
n,t
, T
WI
in
,t
for approximating the
temperature prole can be represented as the linear combination
of T
wl
out
,t
, T
1,t
, t
2,t
, . . . , T
n,t
, T
WI
in
,t
. Laplace transformation can be
used and the equation is reduced to a rst order time lag corre-
sponding to T
wl
out
,t
and T
WI
in
,t
as explained below[24]:
M
wl
cp
wl
dT
Wl
in
,t
dt
=

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
(T
wl
out
,t
T
wl
in
,t
) +

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
b
+

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
r
DR

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
(T
Wl
in
,t
T
r,t
) (17)
Taking Laplace transformation on both sides of Eq. (17) and assum-
ingzeroinitial conditions andsimplifyingexpression, wecanobtain
the following transfer function:
T
Wl
in
(s) = [ G
1,11
G
1,12
G
1,13
]
_
T
o
(s)
k
2
T
r
(s)
_
(18)
where G
1,11
=k
1
/(
5
s +1), G
1,12
=1/(
5
s +1), G
1,13
=k
3
/(
5
s +1),

5
= M
wl
cp
wl
/(

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
+

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
), k
1
=

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
/
(

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
+

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
), k
2
= (

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
b
+

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
r
DR)/
(

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
+

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
), k
3
=

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
/(

j
A
w
j
U
j
OF
t
+

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
), the k parameters are k
1
is the function of thermal
resistant and outside temperature, k
2
is the function of thermal
resistant and solar radiation incident on the surfaces (

C) and k
3
is
the function of thermal resistant and convection heat transfer.
From Eq. (18) the opaque inside temperature surface (T
Wl
in
(s))
inputs are outdoor temperature (T
o
(s)), thermal resistant and solar
radiation incident (k
2
) and roomtemperature (T
r
(s)).
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2048 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
Fig. 5. Heat transfer through fenestration and windows.
2.4.2. Transparent fenestration surfaces
Heat transfer in this part is somewhat different than in opaque
surfaces. This is because the heat gain of these surfaces consisted of
two parts: the rst one represents heat transferred by conduction,
which is the result of the difference between the inner and outer
temperature, and the second part represents the heat transfer due
to solar radiation which itself consists of a group of factors as illus-
trated in Fig. 5. However, Eq. (11) is still valid here, and we can use
it but by changing the way of calculating the heat entering the con-
trol volume (heat gain). The RLF is implicated the components of
the second part with rst one to obtain the heat entering the con-
trol volume. As before, the factors used are the area (A
fen
j
) and the
surface cooling factor (CF
fen
j
) to calculate the heat gain as follows:
Q
fen
in
=

j
A
fen
j
CF
fen
j
(19)
where CF
fen
j
is given by equation CF
fen
=u
NFRC
(t 0.46DR) +
PXI SHGCIACFF
s
,

Q
fen
is thefenestrationcoolingload(W), A
fen
is the fenestration area (including frame) (m
2
), CF
fen
is the surface
cooling factor (W/m
2
), u
NFRC
is the fenestration NFRC heating U-
factor (W/(m
2
K)), NFRCis the National FenestrationRatingCouncil,
t is the cooling design temperature difference (K), DR is the cool-
ing daily range (K), PXI is the peak exterior irradiance, including
shading modications (W/m
2
), SHGC is the fenestration rated or
estimated NFRC solar heat gain coefcient, IAC is the interior shad-
ing attenuation coefcient, and FF
s
is the fenestration solar load
factor.
PXI is calculated as follows:
PXI = T
X
E
t
(unshaded fenestration) (20)
PXI = T
X
[E
d
+(1 F
shd
)ED] (shaded fenestration) (21)
where PXI is a peak exterior irradiance (W/m
2
), E
t
, E
d
, and ED are
peak total, diffuse, and direct irradiance, respectively (W/m
2
), T
X
is a transmission of exterior attachment (insect screen or shade
screen), and F
shd
is a fraction of fenestration shaded by permanent
overhangs, ns, or environmental obstacles.
E
t
, E
d
, and EDvalues are based on two surface conditions, where
for horizontal surfaces:
E
t
= 952 +6.49L 0.166L
2
, E
d
= min(E
t
, 170) and
ED = E
t
E
d
(22)
For vertical surfaces
=

180

(normalized exposure, 01)

E
t
= 453.4 +1341 5279
3
+3260
4
34.09L
+0.2643L
2
12.83L 0.8425L
2
+
_
0.9835L
2
+1
_
,
E
d
= min
_
E
t
, 357 86.98
2
+1.76L
108.4
4

L
+1
_
and
ED = E
t
E
d
(23)
where L =site latitude,

N, =exposure (surface azimuth)

from
south (180 to +180).
The shaded fraction F
shd
can be taken as 1 for any fenestration
shaded by adjacent structures during peak hours. Simple overhang
shading is given by an estimated equation:
F
shd
= min
_
1, max
_
0,
SLF D
oh
X
oh
h
__
(24)
whereSLFis theshadelinefactor, D
oh
is thedepthof overhang(from
plane of fenestration) (m), X
oh
is the vertical distance from top of
fenestration to overhang (m), and h is the height of fenestration
(m).
IAC values are computed as follows:
IAC = 1 +F
cl
(IAC
cl
1) (25)
where IAC is the interior attenuation coefcient of fenestration
with partially closed shade, F
cl
is the shade fraction closed (0 to
1), and IAC
cl
is the interior attenuation coefcient of fully closed
conguration.
Thus, the heat gain through a fenestration is given as:

Q
fen
in
=

j
A
fen
j
u
NFRC
j
(T
o
T
g
in
)

j
A
fen
j
u
NFRC
j
0.46DR
+

j
A
fen
j
PXI
j
SHGC
j
IAC
j
FF
s
j
(26)
After obtaining the heat transferred into control volume (heat gain)
of the fenestration surfaces, the same method used in the opaque
surfaces can be followed to get the transfer function. Here, the
inputs are: the outdoor temperature (T
o
), the indoor temperature
(T
r
) and the location of the conditioned place (f
DR
). The output is
the inside temperature of the glass (T
g
in
) which is dened as:
T
g
in
(S) = [ G
1,14
G
1,15
F
1,16
]
_
T
o
(s)
T
r
(s)
f
DR
_
(27)
where G
1,14
= R
g
f
1
/(f
1
R
g
+1)(
g
S +1), G
1,15
= 1/(f
1
R
g
+1)(
g
s +
1), G
1,16
= R
g
/(f
1
R
g
+1)(
g
S +1),
g
= Cag R
g
/(f
1
R
g
+1), R
g
=
(1/

j
A
fen
j
h
i
j
), f
DR
=

j
A
fen
j
u
NFRC
j
0.46D, f
1
=

j
A
fen
j
u
NFRC
j
(W/k).
2.4.3. Slab oors
The slab oor of the building has big thermal capacitance stor-
age. In fact, it is the largest among the different sections of the
building andtocalculate it. We canrewrite the energy conservation
lawof Eq. (11) as follows:
accumulation or storage of energy
..
M
slab
cp
slab
dT
slab,t
dt
=
difference between in and out of energy
..

Q
slab
in

Q
slab
out
(28)
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054 2049
where

i

Q
slab
in
and

i

Q
slab
out
are the heat gain and loss through
slab oor, respectively (W) and M
wl
cp
wl
is the heat capacitance of
slab (J/K).
Wang [25] and Bligh et al. [26] found that heat gain to concrete
slab oor is mostly through the perimeter rather than through the
oor and into the ground. Total heat loss/gain is more nearly pro-
portional to the length of the perimeter than to the area of the oor,
andit canbe estimatedbythe following equationfor bothunheated
and heated slab oors:

Q
slab
in
= f
t
P(T
slab
in
T
o
) (29)
where

Q
slab
out
is the heat loss through slab oors (W), f
t
is the heat
loss coefcient per meter of perimeter, W/(mK), P is the perimeter
or exposed edge of oor (m), T
slab
in
is the inside slab oor tempera-
ture or indoor temperature (

C), and T
o
is the outdoor temperature
(

C).
The output heat (heat loss) from concrete slab oor has been
calculated by ASHREA organization by following the same meth-
ods used in the opaque and fenestration surfaces [16]. As before all
factors affecting the output heat have been embedded in two fac-
tors only: the area (A
slab
j
) and the cooling surface factors (Cf
slab
j
).
Therefore, the heat output of control volume is as in Eq. (30):

Q
slab
out
=

j
A
slab
j
Cf
slab
j
(30)
where A
slab
is the area of slab (m
2
), (Cf
slab
=1.91.4h
srf
) is the slab
cooling factor (W/m
2
), h
srf
is given by h
srf
= 1/(R
cvr
+0.12), where
h
srf
is the effective surface conductance, including resistance of slab
covering material (R
cvr
) such as carpet (Representative (R
cvr
) val-
ues are found in Chapter 6 of the 2008 ASHRAE HandbookHVAC
Systems and Equipment [27]).
To obtain slab oor transfer function, Eqs. (29) and (30) are sub-
stituted into Eq. (28), and after simplifying the expression, Laplace
transformation is applied on both sides of the resulting equation.
The slab oors subsysteminputs are slab oors area (A
slab
) and
outdoor temperature T
o
, while output is inside slab oors temper-
ature T
slab
in
(S) as shown below:
T
slab
in
(s) = [ G
1,17
G
1,18
]
_
A
slab
T
o
_
(31)
where G
1,17
=(1.91.4h
srf
)/(
slab
S +1), G
1,18
=f
t
P/(
slab
S +1),

slab
=C
slab
/f
t
P, C
slab
=

i
M
slab
i
cp
slab
i
, is the heat capacitance of
slab oors (J/k).
2.5. Conditioned space
The conditioned space is covered by walls, windows, doors,
ceilings, roofs and slab oors. In other words conditioned space
components are air space, furniture, occupant, lighting and appara-
tus that emits heating load. By means of conditioned space control
volume, we analyze the effectiveness of temperature and humid-
ity ratio by applying conservation of energy and mass. The RLF and
physical laware used as analytical tools to model indoor tempera-
ture and humidity ratio.
Sensible heat gaincanbe evaluatedby applying thermal balance
equationonconditionedspacetoget thecomponents thermal load.
The most critical components affecting the conditioned space are:
(1) Heat traversing opaque surfaces (

Q
opq
), which is the amount
of heat transferred to indoor air from walls, roofs, ceilings and
doors, (2) the heat traversing transparent fenestration surfaces
(

Q
fen
) as in windows, skylights, and glazed doors, (3) through slab
oors (

Q
slab
), (4) inltration and ventilation (

Q
inf
), (5) occupants,
lighting, and appliance (

Q
ig,s
), (6) furnishing and air conditioning
spacecapacitance(

Q
air
+

Q
fur
) and(7) coolingloadexertedbyHVAC
system(

Q
s
).
The heat balance of conditioned space is given by the equation:
accumulation or storage of energy
..

Q
air
+

Q
fur
=
difference between input and output of energy
..

Q
opq
+

Q
fen
+

Q
slab
+

Q
inf
+

Q
ig,s

Q
s
(32)
where

Q
air
=
storage energy at air mass
..
M
air
cp
a
dT
air
dt
,

Q
fur
=
storage energy at furniture mass
..

j
M
fur
j
cp
fur
j
dT
fur
dt
,

Q
opq
=
convection heat gain fromopaque surface
..

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
(T
Wl
in
Tr
) ,

Q
fen
=
conduction heat gain
..
(T
g
in
T
r
)
R
g
+
solar radiation heat gain
..

j
A
fen
j
PXI
j
SHGC
j
IAC
j
FF
s
j
,

Q
slab
=
convention heat gain fromslab oors
..

j
A
slb
j
h
i
j
(T
slb
in
T
r
) ,

Q
inf
=
heat gain due to inltration
..
C
s
A
L
IDF(T
o,t
T
r,t
), and

Q
ig,s
=
sensible cooling load frominternal gains
..
136 +2.2A
cf
+22N
oc
.
Substitution these quantities into Eq. (32), yields
M
r
cp
a
dT
r,t
dt
+

j
M
fur
j
cp
fur
j
dT
fur,t
dt
=

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
(T
Wl
in,
t
T
r,t
) +

g
in
,t
T
r,t
R
g
+

j
A
fen
j
PXI
j
SHGC
j
IAC
j
FF
s
j
+

j
A
slb
j
h
i
j
(T
slb
in
T
r
) +C
s
A
L
IAF(T
o,t
T
r,t
)
+136 +2.2A
cf
+22N
oc
m
m
cp
a
(T
r,t
T
s,t
) (33)
The rate of moisture change in conditioned space is the result
of three predominant moisture sources: outdoor air (inltration
and ventilation), occupants, and miscellaneous sources, such as
cooking, laundry, and bathing as shown in Fig. 6. We applied the
conservation of mass lawon the components of conditioned space
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2050 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
Fig. 6. Heat and humidity owin/out of conditioned space.
to get a general formula as follows:
rate of moisture change
= rate of moisture transfer +rate of moisture generation
dmoisture value
dt
=

i
input moisture rate

e
output moisture rate +

gen
moisture generation rate
(34)
The mass balance of conditioned space is given by the equation:
dM
r

r,t
dt
= m
s

s,t
+ m
inf

a,t
+

Q
ig,l
h
fg
m
r

r,t
(35)
A complete description of the space physical behavior for the
twomainoutput components is givenby combining thermal model
equation (33) with moisture model equation (35) deriving the
whole subsystemstate space equation of conditioned space as pre-
sented by Ghiaus et al. [28]. Then eliminating the states vector x,
we followsimilar method in the pre-cooling coil by taking Laplace
transformation on both sides of the state space equation to get:
_
T
r
(s)

r
(s)
_
=
_
G
1,19
G
1,20
G
1,21
G
1,22
G
1,23
G
1,24
G
1,25
G
1,26
G
1,27
G
2,19
G
2,20
G
2,21
G
2,22
G
2,23
G
2,24
G
2,25
G
2,26
G
2,27
_

T
Wl
in
(s)
T
g
in
(s)
T
slb
in
(s)
T
o
(s)
T
s
(s)
f
4

s
(s)

o
(s)

Q
ig,l

(36)
where G
1,19
= k
wl
/f
2
(
6
S +1), G
1,20
=1/f
2
R
g
(
6
S +1),
G
1,21
=k
slb
/f
2
(
6
S +1), G
1,22
=f
3
/f
2
(
6
S +1), G
1,23
= m
m
cp
a
/f
2
(
6
S +
1), G
1,24
=1/f
2
(
6
S +1), G
1,25
=0, G
1,26
=0, G
1,27
=0, G
2,19
=0, G
2,20
=0,
G
2,21
=0, G
2,23
=0, G
2,24
=0, G
2,25
= m
s
/ m
r
(
r
S +1), G
2,26
=
m
inf
/ m
r
(
r
S +1), G
2,27
= 1/h
fg
m
r
(
r
S +1), k
wl
=

j
A
slb
j
h
i
j
,
f
3
=C
s
A
L
IDF (W/k), C
s
is the air sensible heat factor (w/L . S . K.),
A
L
is the building effective leakage area, cm
2
, IDF is the inltration
driving force (L/(s cm
2
)), f
2
=

j
A
w
j
h
i
j
+(1/R
g
) +

j
A
slb
j
h
i
j
+
C
s
A
L
IDF + m
m
cp
a
(W/k),
6
=C
af
/f
2
(s), C
af
is the heat
capacitance of indoor air and furniture, m
inf
is the inltra-
tion air mass ow rate (kg/s), f
4
=f
fen
+136+2.2A
cf
+22N
oc
(W),
f
fen
=

j
A
fen
j
PXI
j
SHGC
j
IAC
j
FF
s
j
is the direct radiation (W),

s
,
o
is the humidity ratio of outdoor and supply air, respectively,
and

Q
ig,l
is the latent cooling load frominternal gains.
3. Resulting overall model
The model block diagram represents a good overall picture of
the relationships among transfer function variables of a subsystem
model. It is possible to arrange the nal subsystems transfer func-
tions (Eqs. (4), (8), (10), (18), (27), (31) and (36)) in a way to reect
reality where the output of the rst subsystem is the input to the
next subsystemand so on and so forth. This is illustrated by Fig. 7.
Note here that it is difcult to arrange and derive the overall math-
ematical model that represents the systems general equation by
only looking at these equations. Therefore, we sought the help of
graphics.
A complete description of the plant behavior for the two main
output components is givenbycompacting subsystemmodel equa-
tion of pre-cooling coil, mixing air chamber, mean cooling coil,
conditioned space and building structure. The whole compact
model transfer function of HVAC equipment and building is rep-
resented by Eq. (37).
_
T
r
(s)

r
(s)
_
=
_
T
1,1
(s) T
1,2
(s) T
1,3
(s) T
1,4
(s) T
1,5
(s) T
1,6
(s) T
1,7
(s) T
1,8
(s) T
1,9
(s) T
1,10
(s) T
1,11
(s) T
1,12
(s)
T
2,1
(s) T
2,2
(s) T
2,3
(s) T
2,4
(s) T
2,5
(s) T
2,6
(s) T
2,7
(s) T
2,8
(s) T
2,9
(s) T
2,10
(s) T
2,11
(s) T
2,12
(s)
_

m
w
(s)
m
mw
(s)
m
os
(s)
m
r
(s)
T
o
(s)

o
(s)
f
4

Q
ig,l
A
slab
f
DR
k
2
T
r
(s)

(37)
where
T
1,1
(s), T
1,2
(s), . . ., T
1,12
(s) andT
2,1
(s), T
2,2
(s), . . ., T
2,12
(s) represent
the input factors that can be obtained fromEq. (36) and Fig. 7.
Eq. (37) implies that the systemhas twelve input variables and
two outputs.
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054 2051
Fig. 7. Subsystems model block diagram.
The input variables are:
1. m
w
(s) is the owrate of chilledwater supply topre-cooling coil,
2. m
mw
(s) is the owrate of chilled water supply to main cooling
coil,
3. m
r
(s) is the owrate of return air to conditioned space,
4. m
os
(s) is the owrate of outside air to conditioned space,
5. T
o
(s) is the perturbations in outside temperature,
6. k
2
is the perturbations due to thermal resistance of building
envelope,
7. f
4
is the perturbations of internal sensible heat gain,
8. A
slab
is the area of slab oors,
9. f
DR
is the location factor,
10.
o (s) is the perturbations in outside air humidity ratio,
11.

Q
ig,l
is the perturbations of internal latent heat gain, and
12. T
r
(s) is the conditioned space temperature.
On the other hand, the output variables are:
1. T
r
(s) is the roomtemperature or conditioned space temperature,
and
2.
r
(s) is the roomhumidity ratio or conditioned space humidity
ratio.
4. Simulation results and discussion
In order to evaluate the performance of the previous thermal
moisture model strategies presented in this work, a residential
building used by the RLF methodology [16] has been adopted. The
geometry of the building is shown in Fig. 8 and is the same one
usedinASHRAE[16] toinvestigate the parameters of the developed
model.
Fig. 8. The geometry of the building chosen to get model parameters.
The building construction characteristics are documented in
Table 1.
The residential building model is a typical one-story house that
has a simple structure. The overall area is 248.6m
2
while the over-
all area excluding the garage is 195.3m
2
, the gross windows and
wall exposed area is 126.2m
2
while the net wall exterior area is
108.5m
2
, and the overall house volume excluding the garage is
468.7m
3
. Other construction characteristics are documented in
Table 1. In order to test the model identication procedure, the
multi-zone model of the RLF methodology has been adopted.
The building properties and weather data obtained for Kuala
Lumpur city have been used for cooling load calculation. By means
of natural ventilation (the HVAC components are turned off)
applied on a building model, then the outside condition and inter-
nal gains are the only affected on the indoor condition. Based on
these conditions, all cooling loads for residential building were cal-
Table 1
Material properties of model building construction.
Component Description Factors
Roof/ceiling Flat wood frame ceiling (insulated with R-5.3 berglass)
beneath vented attic with mediumasphalt shingle roof
U=0.03118W/(m
2
K)

roof
=0.85
Exterior walls Wood frame, exterior wood sheathing, interior gypsumboard,
R-2.3 berglass insulation
U=51W/(m
2
K)
Doors Wood, solid core U=2.3W/(m
2
K)
Floor Slab on grade with heavy carpet over rubber pad; R-0.9 edge
insulation to 1mbelowgrade
Rcvr =0.21(m
2
K)/W; Fp =85W/(m
2
K)
Windows Clear double-pane glass in wood frames. Half xed, half
operable with insect screens (except living roompicture
window, which is xed). 0.6meave overhang on east and west
with eave edge at same height as top of glazing for all
windows. Allowfor typical interior shading, half closed.
Fixed: U=2.84W/(m
2
K); SHGC=0.67
Operable: U=2.87W/(m
2
K); SHGC=0.57;
Tx =0.64
IAC
cl
=0.6
Construction Good Aul =1.4cm
2
/m
2
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2052 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
Fig. 9. Indoor temperature variation due to outdoor temperature variation.
Fig. 10. Indoor humidity ratio variation due to outdoor humidity ratio variation.
Fig. 11. HVAC plant open loop response for indoor temperature and humidity ratio.
Fig. 12. HVAC plant open loop response for indoor temperature and relative humidity.
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054 2053
Fig. 13. Indoor thermodynamic properties transient response for whole building and HVAC plant.
culated every 1h for 24h by using numerical methods [29]. These
calculated cooling loads were used to nd out the indoor temper-
ature and humidity ratio. And these temperature and humidity
ratio checked against the simulation model outputs as shown in
Figs. 9and10. Fromthegures, wendthat thereis substantial con-
vergence between the calculated results and the simulation model
outputs.
The effect of HVAC plant on the indoor air temperature and
humidity can be investigated by an open loop response.
4.1. Open loop response
To incorporate the HVAC plant in the simulation of the resulting
model, both supply air and chilled water owrate for comfortable
indoor conditions must be calculatedrst. This is done by analyzing
and computing the cooling loads based on the outdoor conditions.
First, it is assumed that the outdoor temperature and humidity
ratio are 33

C and 0.01909Kilogram moisture per Kilogram dry

air, respectively. Under these conditions, the HVAC inputs are cal-
culated and fed to the model of the open loop system. These inputs
were: (1) chilled water supplied to the pre-cooling coil, 0.62kg/s,
(2) chilled water fed to the main cooling coil, 0.87kg/s, and (3) the
sumof returnair andfreshair as the total suppliedair tothe system,
607L/s.
When feeding the model with the above inputs, the indoor con-
ditions which are the output of the system are observed to settle
within the comfort zone in a nite time. The results are illustrated
in Figs. 11 and 12 where the temperature and humidity ratio are
shown in Fig. 11 while Fig. 12 shows the temperature and relative
humidity. To further understand the behavior of the system, the
psychrometric chart is used in the next section.
4.2. Psychrometric process line analyses
To illustrate and validate that the system does indeed have
a big thermal inertia as initially suggested; the psychrometric
process line analyses are used. Many HVAC processes can be rep-
resented as straight lines connecting two or three state points on
the psychrometric chart. These points show the thermodynamic
properties of moist air [30,31]. Fig. 13 shows a transient state
process of conditioned space as in Section 4.1. The dotted line
represents an ideal process of these states, while the real system
takes a different path represented by the continuous line connect-
ing state (1) to state (2). This case is related to the transients of
the states. The difference between the two cases is an evidence
that the system has a thermal inertia. The difference is increased
by increasing the thermal capacitance (big thermal inertia) of the
model.
Fig. 14. Complete HVAC cycle and transient model response.
Journal Identication = ENB Article Identication = 3159 Date: July 19, 2011 Time: 7:28pm
2054 R.Z. Homod et al. / Energy and Buildings 43 (2011) 20432054
FromFig. 13, it is obvious that the nal state condition (point 2)
is located inside comfort zone as expected where the comfort zone
is dened in [32].
4.3. Model validation
To validate the derived models, two different calculation meth-
ods were carried out using the indoor model conditions. At rst,
comparison is done between building simulation output and calcu-
lation results by numerical methods. The data results showpartial
agreement as Figs. 9 and 10. The overall systemis then tested using
the psychrometric chart, showing transient response periods. Here,
the system is compared to the calculated results of every subsys-
tem process by CLF/CLTD
c
(cooling load factor for glass/corrected
cooling load temperature difference) method [33].
The steady state psychrometric processes result for each sub-
systemare presented on the psychrometric chart of Fig. 14 where
it is showthat the two paths ended at the same point which means
that they are relatedtogether. Process lines are coloredinredtodif-
ferentiate themwith the indoor transient response colored in blue.
The process started at an initial room condition (point 1) before
ending at a steady state point (point 2). The psychrometric process
lines for moisture air behavior through the subsystem model are:
12 moist air process line through the pre-cooling coil, 23 moist
air process line through the air mixing chamber, 34 moist air pro-
cess linethroughmaincoolingcoil and45moist air process linefor
building cooling load. In the gure, points 5 and 2 are almost coin-
ciding, verifying that both model behavior and CLF/CLTD
c
(manual
cooling load calculation) are completely correlative against each
other.
5. Conclusion
This work adopted a hybrid method that uses both physical
and empirical modeling schemes to arrive at a model that can
accurately represent a building and HVAC system with its vari-
ous thermal inertia subsystems. It was shown in the paper that
the resulting hybrid model behaved in a similar fashion to the real
system. The systemdoes not contain different subsystems with dif-
ferent thermal inertia only, but many of its parts have pure lag
times, and they also have non-linear characteristics. In addition,
thermal load for such a systemis very complex due to the chaotic
or unpredictable behaviors of many of the external and internal
disturbances to the system. One of the major unpredicted distur-
bances to the system is the variation of solar radiation, which is
very hard to model correctly. For these reasons, empirical analyses
wereemployedonthoseparts of thesystem. As for theHVACequip-
ments, physical laws could be used and then linearized. The overall
model gives two coupled outputs: temperature and humidity ratio.
The obtained temperature model equation is fromthe ninth order
while the humidity model equation was fromthe eighth order. This
model with its large number of measurable variables can then be
controlled to achieve good transient and steady state responses. It
is not in the scope of this paper to performthe control design, but
it is denitely the next step of this research.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.03.023.
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