Development of an Artificial Neural Network Model for a Predictive Control of Cooling Systems

건물 냉방시스템의 예측제어를 위한 인공신경망 모델 개발

Purpose: This study aimed at developing an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model for predicting the amount of cooling energy consumption of the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) cooling system by the different set-points of the control variables, such as supply air temperature of air handling unit (AHU), condenser fluid temperature, condenser fluid pressure, and refrigerant evaporation temperature. Applying the predicted results for the different set-points, the control algorithm, which embedded the ANN model, will determine the most energy efficient control strategy. Method: The ANN model was developed and tested its prediction accuracy by using matrix laboratory (MATLAB) and its neural network toolbox. The field data sets were collected for the model training and performance evaluation. For completing the prediction model, three major steps were conducted - i) initial model development including input variable selection, ii) model optimization, and iii) performance evaluation. Result: Eight meaningful input variables were selected in the initial model development such as outdoor temperature, outdoor humidity, indoor temperature, cooling load of the previous cycle, supply air temperature of AHU, condenser fluid temperature, condenser fluid pressure, and refrigerant evaporation temperature. The initial model was optimized to have 2 hidden layers with 15 hidden neurons each, 0.3 learning rate, and 0.3 momentum. The optimized model proved its prediction accuracy with stable prediction results.