Application and analysis of a model based controller for cooling towers in compression chiller plants

Cooling towers or recoolers are one of the major consumers of electricity in a HVAC plant. The implementation and analysis of advanced control methods in a practical application and its comparison with conventional controllers is necessary to establish a framework for their feasibility especially in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Parantapa Sawant, Eric Ho, Jens Pfafferott
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-02-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020300943
Description
Summary:Cooling towers or recoolers are one of the major consumers of electricity in a HVAC plant. The implementation and analysis of advanced control methods in a practical application and its comparison with conventional controllers is necessary to establish a framework for their feasibility especially in the field of decentralised energy systems. A standard industrial controller, a PID and a model based controller were developed and tested in an experimental set-up using market-ready components. The characteristics of these controllers such as settling time, control difference, and frequency of control actions are compared based on the monitoring data. Modern controllers demonstrated clear advantages in terms of energy savings and higher accuracy and a model based controller was easier to set-up than a PID.
ISSN:2405-8440