LEAST-SQUARES PARAMETER-ESTIMATION OF A REDUCED-ORDER THERMAL-MODEL OF AN EXPERIMENTAL BUILDING

A commonly used representation of the thermal response of a building t o intermittent heat input uses a five lumped component Resistive-Capac itative (RC) network. In the present work a methodology for the identi fication of the values of these components is investigated The values are identified from the observed time series measurements of the inter nal and external air temperatures, and the heat flux input into a buil ding, collected over a four week period. A novel methodology for the e stimation of the variance on the identified component values is presen ted, and the degree to which the model using the identified component values predicts the temperature of the air within the test cell is dem onstrated. The advantages and disadvantages of this approach, as a sys tem identification tool or as part of a building energy management sys tem, are discussed.