A Simulation Study of the Impact of Air Conditioning Control System Design on Energy Efficiency Towards Net-Zero Energy Buildings

The Malaysian government is encouraging the industry players to have more awareness of sustainable energy and energy efficient building practices. As the impact, achieving Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) has become popular among researchers. NZEB can be achieved by integrating renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic into the building. Another factor contributing to the energy performance of buildings is the design and implementation of the cooling system in the building. However, upgrading a conventional building to NZEB is a challenge. As an example, an air conditioning system is one of the complexities towards achieving recognition as energy efficient buildings. The paper investigates the impact of air conditioning with conventional control system designs on energy consumption in a building. The system is modelled using Simulink by integrating the air conditioning system model into a building system model where it is based on Malaysia weather. The system compares the conventional control system of the compressor’s limit range. The results show that a lower limit range dissipates more heat compared to a higher limit range. For future work, it is suggested to apply inverter control for the air-conditioning system.