A dynamic simplified model of radiant ceiling cooling integrated with underfloor ventilation system

Model predictive control (MPC) is a model based control method that can be applied in heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to anticipate future events and implement control actions accordingly. Although the energy savings benefits of MPC have been demonstrated in numerous papers, currently, the lack of dynamic simplified model of radiant ceiling cooling integrated with underfloor ventilation (RCCUV) system is preventing the application of MPC on RCCUV system. In this paper, a dynamic simplified resistance and capacity (RC)-network model of RCCUV system was proposed. Thermal resistances, thermal capacities and convective heat transfer coefficients of RC-network model were identified by employing least square method (LSM). Seven typical case studies were conducted for the validation of the model accuracy and the parameter identification effectiveness by experimental data. The results indicated that operative temperatures differences are lower than 0.5 K and errors of ceiling heat flux are less than 7.7% between simulated and measured value. Thus, dynamic simplified RC-network model is reliable and model parameters identification by LSM is effective for RCCUV system.