Dynamic Behaviour and control strategy optimization for conventional heating plants in buildings

Energy consumption in buildings is a relevant international topic driving policy measures for energy saving. In this context the Energy Efficiency Directive are mainly focused on the new building construction and renewable energy resources exploitation. On the other hand the potential of new buildings in Europe is very limited, if compared to existing buildings. Therefore the major part of primary energy savings can be expected from optimized exploitation and refurbishment of already installed, conventional heating systems. Even if a good solar energy fraction can be exploited by means of solar panel installation, energy savings can also be obtained by means of smart control of existing heating plants (thermostatic control valves). This work in particular focuses on the possibility to use simplified approaches for the analysis of energy savings that can be obtained adjusting the heating system control, using current energy sources and plants. To this aim a simplified dynamic numerical code has been developed using EES (Engineering Equation Solver) to simulate both the building physics and the heating system, coupled to each other. This model was applied to some building case studies to identify in each case the best heating system control criteria and qualify the corresponding energy saving achievements.