Using model size reduction techniques for thermal control applications in buildings

This paper deals with buildings indoor air temperature control problems. It specially aims applications concerning actual heating devices testing and control strategies analysis. In both cases, accurate but low-dimension dyna mical models representing the thermal behaviour of the building are require d. Knowledge models satisfy accuracy requirements but they usually include a great amount of differential equations to solve. Using model size reducti on techniques becomes thus essential for control applications. Different mo del size reduction methods are presented and tested in PID control and opti mal control problems. Their performances are shown through an example of ap plication. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.