Energy-Optimal Control for a Heating Circulator

This paper presents a model-based approach to an energy-optimal speed control of a centrifugal pump that is used within heating systems for buildings. The pump operating strategy is based on two main pillars. The first pillar is represented by a module that provides an estimation of the unknown flow resistances in the hydraulic circuit of the heating system. The second pillar is given by a detailed model-based analysis of the pump characteristic in combination with an optimization approach regarding the energy-efficiency to determine the optimal angular velocity of the hydraulic pump. The resulting control strategy is applied to a validated detailed simulation model, which addresses a generic but typical heating scenario. It becomes obvious that a significant improvement w.r.t. the state-of-the-art is achieved.