THERMAL CONTROL OF A DISCONTINUOUSLY OCCUPIED BUILDING USING A CLASSICAL AND A FUZZY-LOGIC APPROACH

This article starts with an overview of the principles of tertiary bui lding control, and some basic points on the application of fuzzy logic to this problem. After a presentation of the TRNSYS simulation progra m, two new modules are described. The first of these, the TYPE 70, use s a simplified model of a building, based on an electrical analogy. It sets out the heat balance of a thermally homogenous zone, and also st udies a multi-zone building made up of a number of adjacent rooms, nam ely several TYPE 70s connected together. The second module, the TYPE 7 1, is a fuzzy controller which determines the supply temperature of th e water in the heating system. Its originality lies in the fact that i t takes into account the 'thermal state' of the building, in addition to the external temperature and the solar gains. A comparison is made between the TYPE 71 and an equivalent, but classical, controller. Simu lations carried out with a mono-zone storey of a building showed that the fuzzy controller produced a temperature closer to the set-point te mperature, and also a more accurate optimization of the restarting pro cedure. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.