Dynamic evaluation method to increase the effect of the automation system on the building energy performance

In this paper, an energy performance model of a residential building, including the heating and cooling systems, is created with the integration of an automation system. The aim is to identify the effect of the building automation systems on the heating and cooling energy consumption by controlling the working scheme of building systems. A methodology is developed to integrate the diverse building systems such as heat pumps, boiler, and solar collectors with their operational arrangements through an automation system. Three different control scenarios are investigated for the comparison by utilizing different software. The building energy model is prepared with TRNSYS while scenario conditions are written in MATLAB to import into the TRNSYS via a specific component which is performed as a bridge between MATLAB and TRNSYS. Subsequently, a dynamic hourly simulation for altering the setpoint values for indoor thermal conditions is integrated by application of Fuzzy logic toolbox from MATLAB. The first scenario is the Base Case (BC) which has a simple working principle. The operational structure is based on if/then relation. As a result, the energy consumption for heating and cooling are 88.16 kWh/m² and 21.57 kWh/m² respectively. The second scenario is called the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which has more complex conditions. The last scenario, a dynamic hourly simulation which was performed by changing the setpoint temperature values within a specified range instead of using fixed seasonal setpoints. The aim was to improve energy efficiency while providing comfort conditions in the building with the dynamic setpoints and get more accurate results. The analysis shows that the consumptions are decreased 10.37% to 82.71 kWh/m² while 4.46% is only from the dynamic setpoint changes for heating, and 14.88% to 20.26 kWh/m² while 9.39% % is only from the dynamic setpoint changes for cooling.