An innovative lighting controller integrated in a self-adaptive building control system

An innovative and self-adaptive integrated system for building energy and c omfort management has been developed. Both artificial and natural lighting controllers have been designed in order to fit the integrated approach. The shading device controller is split into two parts depending on the user pr esence. When the user is present, priority is given to visual comfort, and when he is absent, priority is given to thermal aspects (heating/cooling en ergy saving). The artificial Lighting controller is used to complete the il luminance in the room up to the level desired by the user, which is learned by the system through the user wishes. Many simulations have allowed compa ring different variants of the lighting controllers. The models used in the control system are regularly adapted to the measurements. Therefore, the s ystem continuously adapts itself to the environment and the room characteri stics. Four months of experiments in the occupied LESO-PB office building h ave demonstrated that this integrated system leads to interesting energy sa ving (25% less of total energy consumption) compared to a conventional one. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.