Cooperative control of VAV air-conditioning systems

A dynamic model for a heating ventilating air-conditioning (HVAC) system is developed. Assuming the power of air supply fan is fixed, the air pressure in different rooms and air transmission ducts can be controlled by adjusting variable air volume (VAV) box and its terminals and air diffusers. Since the inlet air pressures in different rooms are interactive, traditional VAV controller, which is to control the dampers individually, will unavoidably generate a large overshoot. In this paper, we consider a novel VAV control strategy which is to control the air diffusers and VAV dampers in a cooperative way. This consensus-based approach can lead to a smoother air pressure change comparing with the traditional approaches. The simulation validates the effectiveness of the new control strategy.