Neural network adaptive controllers for energy management

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States)

OSTI ID:5067953

Guha, A ^[1]

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1. Honeywell Sensor and System Development Center, Minneapolis, MN (US)

Energy management of buildings and plants requires controllers that can perform regulatory control of heating or cooling systems whose dynamic behavior may be complex and may vary with the nature of each plant or installation. In general, a controller that can adapt to the behavior of each plant would be necessary to optimize energy savings. The control problem to be solved is the regulatory control of an unknown plant model with the goal of maximizing comfort and energy savings. In this paper, the authors present a class of adaptive controllers, based on neural networks that use reinforcement learning, that are self-tuning since they do not require knowledge of the desired control function. In conjunction with an unsophisticated monitor, this neural-network-based controller can develop near-optimal control strategies on-line by exploration of the control space without assumptions about the plant model. The authors show how such controllers can be used for regulatory control and for control scheduling in continuous processes. Experiments in control of an environmental controller according to a desired time-temperature schedule demonstrate good learning performance. The authors propose how these controllers can be designed for solving a broader class of energy management problems.

• OSTI ID: 5067953
• Report Number(s): CONF-9104106--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proceedings of the American Power Conference; (United States) Journal Volume: 53
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320105* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Building Services-- (1987-)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
BUILDINGS
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
COOLING SYSTEMS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
HEATING SYSTEMS
NEURAL NETWORKS
ON-LINE CONTROL SYSTEMS
ON-LINE SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE