Optimization of Energy Consumption in DXAC using MATLAB/SIMULINK for Improved Performance and Thermal Comfort

Abstract

Energy consumption in the built environment has become a significant issue on a global scale. Escalating energy costs and environmental concerns have made energy use optimization a viable option for buildings. With more number of commercial office buildings coming up, requiring large amount of energy in Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning system amounting to nearly 30% - 40%, there is an urgent need to mitigate this ever increasing energy crisis. The goal of energy modeling of HVAC is to accurately predict the energy use to test the energy performance of HVAC system with regards to an established standard and reduce the energy consumption in order to find the resulting energy savings. This paper deals with reducing energy consumption by optimizing the variable speed motor run air cooled Direct Expansion Air Conditioner by modeling and simulation using MATLAB/SIMULINK. In a commercial building for Indian climatic condition. The simulation results indicate that variable-speed fan control strategy contributing to most of the savings. This has resulted in considerable energy saving with improved performance of the DXAC system without compromising the occupants comfort level.