Energy management system using smart devices

Abstract

HVAC system constitutes up to 38% of energy usage in buildings, making it one of the largest energy [1]. More often than not however, this energy is inefficiently consumed. With the continual increase in energy costs, the interest and need for higher efficiency HVAC systems have emerged in order to cut costs on the energy bills.

This thesis highlights this issue and proposes that an effective simulation-based HVAC control is the most economical option to enhance energy efficiency within a building. One of the most common approaches to tackle this issue includes down playing the energy wasted in unoccupied areas, which is also known as room-level zoning [1].

Room level zoning can be achieved based on real-time detection using map-based method, feature-based detector and motion analysis [3]. By understanding thermal comfort and performance of control systems, an energy efficient HVAC system can be actualized in this fast moving paced world.

3 possible real-time work life situations were taken into consideration to model the simulation in this project and the obtained results were illustrated in the results section of this thesis. Furthermore, future works were also discussed towards the end of the thesis to further enhance the performance of this simulation based HVAC control.